The Cold Heart Across The Hall
by MidnightShadowgirl25
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki ran away from home with his daughter 4 years ago. Now in a busy city, struggling to keep up with two jobs, and providing food to the table without letting it show to his young daughter, Ichigo ends up at his limits. When all hope is lost, Ichigo finds himself relying more and more on the cold-hearted woman in the apartment across the hall. AU Ichiruki
1. Chapter 1: Deliveries

**Writer's Note:**

_**- **_**Just an idea that came to mind when I was going to bed - lying in bed and desperately trying to think of an interesting AU Ichiruki fanfic. Hope you enjoy! I'm a little rusty when it comes to writing fanfics, so bear with me. This may seem long it turned up being 18 pages on my wordperfect file, but Fanfiction's font size is different - so I don't know. I couldn't include all of the summary so I put what I actually wanted to write here. I will probably update weekly, hopefully.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. (I wish I did)

Pairings: (if you don't like then don't read) Ichiruki, RenjiXJackie, GinRan, UraharaXYoruichi, OrihimeXIshida (Maybe - not quite sure yet), KenseiXMashiro (a little), HisanaXByakuya (probably).

FULL Summary:

Ichigo Kurosaki ran away from home in his small town with his daughter, when he became a father 4 years ago. Now in a busy city, struggling to keep up with two jobs and providing food to the table without letting it show to his young daughter - Ichigo ends up at his limits. When all hope is lost, Ichigo finds himself relying more and more on the coldhearted woman in the apartment across the hall. It turns out the person he needed most was a doorstep away.

Ichigo never had anything to catch him when he stumbled; she was catching him before he even felt the fall.

_**Chapter 1: ****Deliveries, a Accidental Kiss, and a Strange Neighbor**_

Ichigo Kurosaki sighs as he closes the driver seats door to the large delivery truck. He rubs his tired drooping eyelids and begins buckling the old seatbelt that always got stuck halfway through putting it on. After a minute of struggling with the cursed seatbelt, while using some colourful words, the damn seatbelt finally clicked into place. Ichigo readjusted his "Urahara Shoten" ball cap before turning on the truck and beginning to drive down the busy street. He glances at the time, it was only 8:30 a.m. His shift ended at 1:00 p.m., so today was going to go by slowly.

It is one of Ichigo's rare good days - today is Tuesday, so he didn't have to work a late night at the restaurant, in turn it means that his daughter, Mai doesn't have to be taken to the crazy babysitter, the only one he could possibly afford, Hiyori. The crazy babysitter is a teen who lived in Mai's preschool area, and Hiyori had offered a low fee that Ichigo could actually afford. He would like to say it was a blessing from God, since there were literally no other babysitters - but Hiyori was anything but a blessing.

Every time Ichigo had to leave Mai there, he has this bad feeling at the back of his head that Hiyori would somehow teach her wrongly, or yell at her too much and cause Mai to cry (she can be pretty sensitive). The only reason he is such a worry wart is because it has always been just Mai and him for four years; but now that his jobs are becoming more frequent during the day and night, Ichigo actually needed a babysitter. Hiyori had been watching Mai for 6 months now, and so far there hasn't been any major setbacks - though Mai nearly got lost at the park once, because Hiyori had been on the phone with her 'boyfriend'. Ichigo seriously doubts Hiyori's sanity, so he wasn't able to agree with the possibility of a boy actually liking her romantically.

Ichigo dropped off Mai at the preschool at 6:00 a.m., since he started worked at 6:30a.m. He had less worries about the preschool teacher, Unohana mainly due to the fact she was so motherly and kind to Mai. Mai always talked about Unohana right when he picked her up; it also helps that Unohana once used to be a doctor, so she knew basically everything about taking care of Mai, and how to keep her healthy. Unohana initially offered to take care of Mai during his late shifts at the restaurant but Ichigo couldn't possibly ask her to do it on top of watching her all day.

Ichigo sighs for the millionth time that day, realizing he needs to go grocery shopping before picking up Mai from preschool, so he may be late on picking her up. Mai didn't like it when Ichigo was late, she starts to ignore him, which only lasts a couple of minutes, but he still absolutely hates it when she does it. The reason he never took Mai to the grocery store with him was simply he didn't like all the women staring at him. For some reason every mother would always smile and wave if he ever brought Mai shopping, and it drove Ichigo crazy. He didn't like getting attention and he doesn't like smiling at people. The only person he ever smiles at is Mai, and Mai only.

Ichigo parks beside a condo, and checks his clipboard again to make sure he went to the right address. Confirming the fact he went to the right place, Ichigo heads out of the vehicle hoping that the cold fall day would end quickly.

(^3^)

"Shit!" Rukia Kuchiki swore under her breath as she saw the subway doors closing since she dozed off while waiting for it to arrive. Thankfully she squeezes her way past the closing doors, before letting out a relieved sigh. "Hey move out of the way, kid!" some man barked from behind her, waiting for her to move so he could sit down. He didn't bother waiting and just shoved by her, Rukia gave the man an icy glare but decided against even giving the guy the pleasure of getting her worked up. _Though, I would whoop your ass in a second if I could_ Rukia thought bitterly, she glares daggers at the floor, and grabs a seat near the door, so she could leave quicker when she reaches her stop.

Rukia readjusts her white blouse and combs her fingers through her hair to get rid of any flyaway hairs. She pulls out her phone to text her friend at work, Renji that she may be arriving late today - she would text Jackie, but the said woman absolutely hates using her phone, which has terrible service and is an old flip phone.

To: Renji Abarai

I may be late to work. Tell Jackie not to worry.

_"Message Sent"_ her phone notifies her, and Rukia shoves the device back inter her large black purse. Her violet eyes close and she massages her temples in hope of ridding herself of the last minute work she pulled together last night. She had yesterday off from work, and was supposed to finish her work early in the morning and have the rest of her day free, but Rukia had a procrastination problem during work and after work. She decided to go shopping in the morning and spent most of the day out. When she got home she was pooped, and wanted to do anything but send e-mails to twenty different people.

Rukia is currently working her third year as an Administrative Assistant at an advertising agency. She had many different tasks to do at work, but she generally just makes sure that everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing, while assisting the Department Head, Ukitake-san.

Renji is the graphic designer of the agency, the two had gone to the same high school; though Renji had gone to college while Rukia headed to a higher up University, the two had kept in contact. Renji is Rukia's best friend in the world, thoguh Jackie was a close second. Jackie and Rukia had met on Rukia's first day, Jackie was having troubles with the printer, and Rukia and her bonded with beating the poor machine up - ever since then they had been close.

It was also nice to have a friend that is an actual girl; Rukia mostly had guy friends in high school since she was a tom boy, and was into sports. University had been a huge lonely blur, since she felt like she lost her other half when Renji went to college. Though now that she is working at a professional job, she finally began making some actual friends that were girls.

Rukia snaps out of her thoughts as the subway begins slowing down at her stop. A woman's voice is buzzing through the speakers, announcing their stop her voice barely audible over the screeching subway. Rukia immediately stands, almost losing her footing but regains her composure as the doors ding before opening. She dashes through the station practically running to work in her black flats. _Thank god I didn't wear heels today_ Rukia thought, squirming her way through the tight crowd around the exiting staircase. Rukia Kuchiki was never late to work, and she wasn't planning on losing her perfect streak today.

Rukia decides to catch her breath before walking into the "Soul Advertising Agency". The building wasn't very tall compared to more famous agencies in the city - like the one her brother-in-law, Byakuya Kuchiki owned. Rukia has grown accustomed to the friendly small agency. It is practically her second home (she spent most of her week here), and unlike others who hate their jobs, Rukia knew that she loves what she does here every day.

Once regaining her breath she glances over at her silver watch which was her university graduation present from Byakuya. She came with five minutes to spare. She opens the glass doors and greets the front desk secretary, Nemu, who gives a small smile that is barely visible. Rukia presses the silver elevator button and taps her foot rapidly; it is a new bad habit of hers. For some reason her body could never relax for a second - she is a pretty busy woman so she's always alert.

The doors open and Rukia walks in with some other men and women heading to work also. She doesn't recognize any of them, but the woman wearing circular glasses and her hair tied up tightly seems familiar to her. Her name is on the tip of Rukia's tongue but she can't seem to remember the name that belongs with the woman's face. She would ask Jackie about it later.

She presses the button for floor 3 and everyone else presses their respective floor numbers. Once reaching her floor Rukia steps out of the elevator, greeted by medium sized cubicles, some fake plants since they are cooped up in the building all day, and the secretary's large stylish desk.

"Morning Kuchiki-san!" Hinamori greets Rukia. The said secretary, smiles brightly, her large brown eyes practically sparkling like some kind of shoujo manga - despite the fact it was early in the morning. Rukia wonders how the hell the woman could operate so cheerily 24/7. She never saw Hinamori without a smile spread onto her face.

"Morning, Hinamori-san. How's your morning been?" Rukia asks politely, whilst trying to give her co-worker a smile, it ends up being a little too awkward on her face so she stops trying to smile at all. She has a few minutes to spare anyways so why not strike up a conversation?

"Very well! There has been quite a few calls from different clients today! I think we are gaining more everyday!" Hinamori chimed, excitedly, and Hinamori was definitely right - they had been increasing in popularity at the moment. Everyone has been pretty pumped up about the great news, though as Ukitake always says, they shouldn't get too ahead of themselves or else the company may lose it's popularity. "I hope so," Rukia commented before waving a goodbye to her timid co-worker and heading to her small office.

Rukia remembers when she used to work in one of those cubicles. The day she got promoted to her very own office was one of her most memorable days at work. That, and the day she saw Jackie actually blush - she barely ever lets her emotions out, so it was a grand event for both Rukia and Renji. Jackie is still in a cubicle; she doesn't complain to Rukia - she just enjoys the fact she's an account supervisor. Byakuya always pressures Rukia to aim for an even higher position, at another more successful company, but Rukia could never see herself leaving this small agency. Sure, she may be able to earn even more money, but her friends would be farther from her reach. She needs them more than they think.

Rukia sighs as she hears the wonderful sound of her office door clicking close. She heads over to her desk, dropping her briefcase onto the elegant wooden surface, before plopping herself onto her comfy leather desk chair. She would spin around in it too, if she didn't have work to do today. Rukia turns on the PC, and taps her lavender painted nails onto the sleek desk impatiently. Her computer always took forever to start up; while her laptop at home took a few seconds.

The moment she begins opening her briefcase, she hears a knock on the door and a voice asking, "You aren't naked right?" Rukia laughs before saying sarcastically, "_Yes_ I love working naked on the job!" The person opens the door revealing Jackie, laughing hysterically wearing a burgundy suit jacket over a black blouse, and matching burgundy suit pants. This was a small tradition Jackie had started two months ago, when Jackie accidentally walked in once when Rukia was changing into a different blouse since it got coffee spilled all over it. Since then Jackie has refused to see any more body parts of Rukia, so she always asks.

Rukia raises her eyebrow, taking in the new suit, "Oooo, that colour suits you! When did you buy this?" Rukia presses; it was rare for Jackie to ever change her wardrobe, she didn't like spending too much money. Rukia lives in a super low priced apartment building, that is really old, so she saves a lot of money that she uses on clothing for work.

Jackie looks away from Rukia, "I just saw it and tried it on, and couldn't say no. Which is why I avoid going to malls. Or else I'll buy everything - like you do," Jackie responds with a roll of her brown eyes. "I don't buy _everything_," Rukia pointed out with a huff, as she crosses her arms around her petite torso.

"Anyways, did you end up having any hot dates?" Jackie asks quickly, gliding over to Rukia's desk and sitting on the right empty corner. Rukia doesn't bother telling her to not sit on her desk, and merely starts clicking the Google Chrome icon with her mouse. She also opens a Solitaire game to play before she got anything done.

"The closest thing to a date I had was with Ben & Jerry," Rukia snaps as she begins playing the game. Jackie sighs, "Having ice-cream on a Monday night? Okay, but what about that blind date your sister set you up on; I thought it was yesterday - on your day off?"

"No, no I rescheduled for my next day off. I need to mentally prepare myself for the dating world, before just jumping in. I mean it's super awkward, I never have any idea what to say or talk about!" Rukia rambles as she side glares to Jackie who laughs slightly at her.

"The _real_ question that's important is whether you and Renji are going out yet!? Have you even talked with him this morning?" Rukia demands, her violet eyes piercing through Jackie's warm caramel orbs.

Jackie looks away her face turning slightly pink, "Renji and I - are not dating - you're delusional we're just friends"-

"Wait a minute?! You never blush when you talk about him! Did something happen?!" Rukia exclaims as she stands up from her desk and slams her hands on it. Jackie is startled from the slam of Rukia's hands and immediately decides to come clean, "Fine don't tell Renji I told you though, promise?"

Rukia nods feverishly as happy as a puppy, and Jackie rubs her forehead before saying, "Last night he invited me to a bar - you were busy so you couldn't come, or so I _thought_ you were on that date. But the point is we both got a little drunk, actually he got A LOT drunk and we-we um, kissed okay?! But immediately afterwards Renji said it was an accident. After that I took a cab home - that's all."

"Oh my God! You should've slept with him!" Rukia bursts out loudly, Jackie immediately covering Rukia's mouth with her hand before shushing her. Rukia quiets down and plops loudly back down onto her leather seat, thinking of what to say as she chuckles at Jackie's embarrassed look on her face.

"If we did anything like that it would be horrible - think about it Rukia, do you realize how many accidental pregnancies happen between people who were drunk and well, weren't thinking at the time!" Jackie rambles her face flushing still, and her brown eyes glaring pointedly at Rukia. The said girl gave Jackie an unfazed expression.

"You guys aren't fooling me or anyone for that matter - you _like like_ him, more than friends," Rukia states simply hoping to get her point across.

"I don't! Plus if Renji likes anyone - it would be you!" Jackie retorts quickly.

"Please, Renji may have liked me in high school - but in university when he confessed I told him he was only a friend to me, nothing more. Renji was okay with it. After that he had like a million girlfriends. I even met some of them! So, you guys should date!" Rukia explains, her violet orbs glaring at Jackie. If she were Jackie, she would be glad she even had someone interested in her. Ever since Renji - Rukia hasn't been confessed to like that again. Sure she had many one night stands in university and some in her working career. But she wanted to meet _the_ guy. The one that all the little girls dream of meeting.

But, that would never happen, not with her never going out of her apartment- afraid to face the real world. Rukia was merely scared of others - also she seems cold-hearted to almost everyone she meets. Her brother-in-law was a huge businessman in the city and every time she introduces herself, people immediately back off; thinking she's off limits, or too snobby for them.

Jackie coughs awkwardly, still taking in Rukia's response and wondering what to do about the whole kissing Renji thing. Jackie asks quickly, "So, did you finish the schedule that I need by today?"

"Fuck!" Rukia's brain remembers that Jackie had reminded her on Sunday at work to do the schedule, but on Monday she barely even did all of her other work. "Damn, I forgot!" Rukia shouts as she turns quickly to her PC, and scans to find the document she needs to finish doing.

"Please refrain from using such filthy language in my presence, Kuchiki-san," Jackie says in monotone, and Rukia immediately bursts out laughing, tears forming around her eyes. That's how funny it was. Rukia snorts, "Oh my God, Ukitake's still not feeling well?!" Jackie was giggling at her own joke, and replies, "Yup, Ishida has taken into snooping in our department area for awhile now. Ever since Ukitake's been sick he's started acting like the Head of this company."

Rukia iss still laughing at Jackie's accurate impression of Uryu, who always caught someone swearing and immediately corrected their use of words. Ukitake merely ignores cussing and pretends he never heard it. But unfortunately, Ukitake was frequently sick - so the Chief Executive Officer, Uryu practically acts as the leader most of the time. As for who finishes Ukitake's work, well Sentaro and Kiyone look up to him as a mentor - and are the ones who finish 99% of his work for him.

Jackie gets up from her spot on the desk, and begins walking towards Rukia's door, "Well Rukia, good luck! Don't worry I won't tell Uryu about it. Just finish it now." Jackie opens the door to the office her head still turning towards Rukia. Rukia starts filling in the schedule and states, "All he does is boss people around! He's so full of himself!"

"Who's bossing you around Kuchiki-san?" Uryu Ishida questions coolly, his blue eyes completely serious for the day of work. Rukia's whole body froze, her entire being turning cold in a moment. _Shit, Shit, Shit!_ Rukia thinks in her head as she turns her head slowly towards Uryu who is standing behind Jackie. Jackie's face is startled but she regains her composure much quicker than Rukia who struggles to say anything.

"Oh, she's talking about Renji! Yeah, you know how old married couples bicker a lot - Well Renji bickers with Rukia, and she doesn't enjoy being told what's right and wrong! She's stubborn like that!" Jackie says swiftly, the lies coming out perfectly from her red lips. Rukia thanks the heavens for Jackie's great thinking skills and for coming up with perfect lies on her feet. Ones that were practically true. Renji and her did bicker a lot.

"Ah, I see. Well, Kuchiki-san I need that" - Uryu began saying but Jackie interrupts him from asking for the schedule, "Oh, Ishida-san, I have a new idea for this company, I would like to pitch! I was wondering if I can present it to you sometime!" Jackie cuts in quickly.

Rukia gives a sigh of relief as the two begin walking away, in their own conversation. Rukia hopes Jackie will be okay, since she wasn't sure whether Jackie actually had any ideas for the company or not. Deciding to ask her friend about it later she begins to work once again. A few seconds later, Jackie walks back into Rukia's office a smirk on her face, "You owe me one."

Rukia replies, "Yeah, I owe you many drinks for that performance you did right there." Suddenly Jackie gasps loudly, and Rukia averts her gaze from her screen, seeing a hilarious sight before her eyes. Rangiku Matsumoto - a member of the Human Resources recruiting team - was groping Jackie's breasts from behind. Rukia bursts into a fit of laughter as Jackie covers her breasts with her slim arms and runs away from Rangiku who states, "I think they've gotten bigger, J-chan~!"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!" Jackie mutters under her breath, as Rangiku jumps up and down in her pencil skirt and rolled up purple blouse. Rukia thought Rangiku was jumping due to Jackie but her guess was wrong.

"Guess what happened last night - girls?!" Rangiku chimes; Jackie and Rukia exchange a small glance, and they both shrug simultaneously, since they never knew what to expect with Rangiku. The woman was the most flirty person Rukia ever met - she would flirt with an inanimate object if she could. And she can pull it off too - she is blessed with large breasts, though Rukia had no idea how she could stand the weight of them.

"You guys are no fun! Fine, I'll just tell you!" Rangiku pouted slightly as she sat in an actual chair meant for Rukia's clients, while Jackie merely stood beside Rukia's desk facing the large busty woman. Rukia still had no clue what to expect from Rangiku; she can be a handful.

"I was shopping last night - instead of finishing up work, as usual. And I saw this toy store, my neighbor and I used to go to when we were kids when we visited the city once! And then I started thinking of him; since I hadn't seen him since high school, I really miss him actually. And then out of nowhere a tall guy who looked really good wearing all black went up to the window also. I was about to flirt when I recognized his face in the reflection it was my neighbor, the one I always talk about, Gin~!" Rangiku squeals, her body still bouncing in excitement.

Rangiku despite her love of shopping, her stylish outfits and long perfectly stylized hair, grew up in farmland. Yes, she lived on a farm. Her parents didn't have any more kids other than her, so she is an only child. Her mother never liked the farmland and divorced her father when Rangiku was young. Rangiku played by herself most of the time, and sometimes with the border collie on the farm named Spot. One day she got lost in the tall fields and that's where she met Gin - who was pretty mysterious. He lived with the neighbors, but she had been over to their house before and never met Gin. It turned out, they adopted him, since they were his Aunt and Uncle, on his father's side. That's all Rangiku told them but Rukia had the feeling there was more to the story.

Rangiku told Jackie and Rukia this story a month ago; she was drunk at the bar, since she convinced the both of them to meet her there. She was crying when she told the story, since Rangiku hadn't seen him since he left for university. Rukia had the feeling Rangiku was in love with Gin when she heard the story, he had saved her from getting lost in the fields, and he had stopped her from crying. Also, he was there for Rangiku whenever her heart was broken - he once even pranked the guy who cheated on her in high school. It apparently involved a LOT of chickens.

"That's great Rangiku!" Rukia states and Jackie agreed. Rangiku smiles brightly her strawberry blonde hair bouncing, since it was curled for today, her blue eyes looked down at her skirt's lap, and she began playing with her skirt nervously. "Well we talked for awhile and it turns out he's managing a restaurant with a bar in the city! I told him I'd come by, and he promised to buy me a drink. I really missed him, you know. He's the only guy who cared about me before I even had big breasts! And even when I got 'em he still didn't stare at 'em!"

Rukia grins at Rangiku and wiggles her eyebrows up and down, "So... do you think you'll date him?"

"What?! No, definitely not!" Rangiku turns beet red immediately, at the thought of becoming more than friends with Gin Ichimaru.

Her co-workers never saw him before, they didn't know that Gin wasn't like any other regular normal person - he was far from normal. Most people would find him creepy or strange. His face scares a lot of people off - but Rangiku is never scared when she looks at Gin. His eyes are always hidden behind his closed eyelids, and large smile - but when his eyes are revealed, they are the most beautiful colour blue Rangiku has ever seen in her life. She has never met anyone with Gin's electric blue eyes - almost as if they were physically impossible; she never saw what his parents looked like, so she has no idea how Gin inherited his eye colour.

Rangiku snaps back from her deep thoughts when Jackie points, "You're practically daydreaming about him. Plus, you talk about him a lot." Rangiku pouts slightly at her friend before teasing with a grin, "Not as much as you talk of Renji!"

Jackie grumbles to herself, and rolls her eyes at Rangiku, who is giggling excessively. Rukia grins at Rangiku and the two girls high five at Rangiku's wonderful joke. "Anyways I could never hook up with Gin, it would be weird - he's my friend! Like Rukia and Renji!" Rangiku rationalizes.

"Well, Renji didn't practically save me from near death!" Rukia states swiftly, with a wave of her hand, as she types up the finishing touches of her schedule. She is a pretty damn good multitasker when it came to working and talking at the same time. She always wonders if Rangiku ever even works at all - since all she ever does is talk with them most of the day. Her supervisor Toshiro absolutely resents her for it.

"I guess so, but still" Rangiku sighs. Jackie smiles lightly and says, "I understand - so don't worry about it Rangiku." Rangiku beams up at Jackie, and Rukia questions, "I don't understand how you can pass up on Gin, but when it comes to the poor nervous delivery boy, you hook up with him plenty of times."

"Oh, Izuru-san? Ah, he's a sweetheart! I couldn't pass him up!" Rangiku song-songs as she squirms in her leather seat. Jackie rubs her forehead in annoyance, and Rukia wonders how the poor boy even had the guts to even lay a finger on Rangiku's large breasts. He could barely even have a conversation with anyone in the agency, especially the women. She pities the man since he was often forced on Rangiku's wild extravagant night outs.

"I better head to that pitch I have to do. Hopefully Uryu doesn't want to force a pencil down my throat by the end of it. Rangiku, let Rukia work in peace - she has work to do you know," Jackie says as she pulls Rangiku up from her seat. Rukia gives Jackie a grateful glance, and the last thing Rukia hears is Rangiku's complaints whilst being pulled out of her office.

It's only after the door clicks close that Rukia realizes she owes Jackie a couple more drinks.

(^3^)

Ichigo Kurosaki allows his lips to give a small smile as he parks the delivery truck next to the many others in the large parking lot. It is the end of his shift, so after he checks in with Urahara, his boss he will be free to go grocery shopping, and then finally pick Mai up. He hasn't seen her a lot since last week he had to work both of his jobs on the same days - meaning more time with Hiyori the babysitter, who Ichigo would rather not dwell on at the moment.

He walks into the one story building that somehow fit most of the merchandise Urahara sold. Urahara owns a online shopping website, he practically sells everything from clothing, to furniture, to technology, you name it, Urahara probably has it stored somewhere. He wonders how Urahara can even manage the website, since he never even saw him using a computer before.

Urahara was mainly found dozing off asleep in a chair or on the couch in the break room. He's also pretty mysterious, with his strange green and white hat, his wooden cane and clogs. The man seems young, but dresses like he's an old man. Ichigo still doesn't trust this guy - no matter how long he's worked at this company - which is why he refuses to mention Mai or anyone for that matter around Urahara. But Urahara rarely asks Ichigo anything personal, and he was thankful for that.

Ichigo realizes the front area is empty, and Urahara is no where that Ichigo looks. He ventures into the break room, and lo and behold, Urahara is sleeping on the old leather couch, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. "Urahara-san?" Ichigo asks impatiently a deep scowl forming onto his face. He is in no mood for any delays, and wants to leave this horrid establishment as quickly as possible.

No response.

A growl forms at the back of Ichigo's throat and he begins shaking Urahara roughly with both his hands. Urahara's grey eyes begin opening and he immediately yawns, "Oh, Kurosaki-san, you're finished for the day?"

"Yes. Now sign the damn paper, before I hit you for taking so damn long to wake up," Ichigo scowls immediately, as he hands his boss the clipboard filled with clients signatures.

Urahara takes the clipboard and pouts slightly, "Aw, no need to be rude, Kurosaki-san~! You shouldn't frown so much, it's not good for getting girls, you know!"

"I'm not looking for girls - I have work to do," Ichigo states with a wave of his hand, before shoving them in his pockets. Ichigo hasn't dated since Mai's mom; he plans keeping it that way. It would be weird introducing Mai to someone who may not always be around. Dating is unstable, and Ichigo can't have his life becoming even more unstable than it already was. Plus, he didn't have money to pay for dinner or for an actual date of any sort. It is out of the question for him.

"Aw, Kurosaki-san you can't give up that easily! There are plenty of lonely women out there!" Urahara chimes, as he grabs a pen from the break room table and signs on the sheet. Ichigo just grunts in response to his boss, hoping this conversation would just end. "Where's Yoruichi?" Ichigo questions,, noticing that the tanned purple haired woman is nowhere in sight. "At work," Urahara states swiftly with a smirk.

Yoruichi is Urahara's wife; the two of them even adopted two children, though Ichigo has never met them before, Urahara has shown him photos of them. Yoruichi is very strange, much like Urahara. Ichigo still has no clue what Yoruichi's job is, he had a feeling it is something secretive since Urahara rarely mentions her work. Ichigo always pictures Yoruichi as a trained assassin or a secret government agent, but he always had a wild imagination when it came to people. She is very fit, and she's always wearing comfortable clothing. She may even be a personal trainer.

"I guess that's all for you today, Kurosaki. I'll see you tomorrow," Urahara says with a small smile as he stretches up from the couch and begins heading to the backroom to file the paperwork. Ichigo nods, and waves at his boss before turning to leave the building.

Ichigo begins walking to the grocery store, it is a 10-minute walk, so it will take awhile. He parks his old truck there since the parking lot for Urahara's business is always full. Ichigo doesn't mind walking though, it's good exercise since he barely has time to jog anymore, now that he's working two jobs in one day. The grocery shopping doesn't take very long, and soon enough, Ichigo is driving in his blue truck over to the Konso Preschool, grocery bags shoved below the passenger seat. Mai's small legs didn't reach the floor anyway, so the bags were never a problem.

Ichigo parks his truck in the parking lot, and begins walking towards the preschool, still wearing his work clothes; jeans and a white t shirt with the delivery ball cap placed over his tangled orange locks. He hears high pitched laughter from the preschool, and some squeals of delight. He braces himself for Mai's disappointed face - it is 2:00 p.m. so he's 20 minutes late, she won't be happy when she sees him, like on other days.

"Yo! Ichi! Your late aren't you?" a young voice questions from the right side of the parking lot. Ichigo turns his head, and his amber eyes find the small ten year old Yachiru Kusajishi, her short bubble gum hair bouncing as she skips in the parking lot towards Ichigo. She's wearing her blue and white elementary school uniform; she went to one that was near the area, since a lot of families live around here.

Yachiru stays at the preschool after school since she used to be one of the old students, she helps cleaning the areas up, and Unohana in turn babysits her for the night until her adoptive father Kenpachi came to pick her up. Ichigo knew Kenpachi since he owns the restaurant he works at part-time; Kenpachi talks of Unohana a lot, the two know each other quite well - Ichigo has the feeling that the scary man may possibly harbor feelings for the caring woman. Ichigo wasn't quite sure how such a threatening looking man could have a crush on someone so kindhearted and sweet as Unohana.

"You should stop calling me Ichi - at least say my full name!" Ichigo frowns at her, the girl is still hopping on her feet, circling around Ichigo as if he was some rare animal species who needed to be analyzed. She scrunches her nose and squints her eyes, "You seem different Ichi! Did you grow your hair or something?"

Ichigo sighs as he begins walking to the front door, not wanting to make his daughter wait a second longer, "No - not that I know of, now let's head inside before you catch a cold. Why aren't you wearing a sweater anyways?"

"Hmm...Kenny, forgot to give my sweater to me today~! He probably didn't wash it - he's horrible at doing laundry!" she giggles her pink eyes glowing in the afternoon lighting. "I'm a big girl now! Just started fifth grade! So I don't need a sweater!"

Ichigo would've scolded her if it weren't for the fact he needs to bring Mai home as quickly as he can, before she got super angry. So, the two walk into the entryway, the area lit up brightly, with leather couches along the two walls, some small toys and magazines lay unopened on the glass coffee table. The preschool wasn't pricey and Ichigo was grateful for Unohana's low price for such a great preschool. The playroom is always filled with toys from Barbies to toy cars, any kid would be in heaven here.

Isane, the second teacher is sitting at the desk and hangs up the phone when the two of them walk in. She smiles and greets them before heading to the playroom to retrieve Mai. Yachiru practically throws her small school bag onto the couch and begins shuffling through it, until she pulls out a large bag of candies.

Yachiru is known to always have candy with her; Kenpachi spoils her with it - Unohana always scolds Yachiru for eating too much of it, since it's bad for her teeth. Yachiru loves Unohana, but doesn't listen, since Kenpachi tells her she can have as much as she likes. Unohana gets angry whenever it happens, and Ichigo finds her scary when tension is in her blue eyes. Unohana can be quite frightening if she wants to be.

Unohana greets kindly, "Ichigo, you're here! I'm glad you came so quickly after work, isn't that right Mai?" Unohana appears from the hallway, her long black braid flowing behind her. She's holding Mai's small hand, and is smiling warmly down at her. Mai can be quite shy in front of an audience or even a few people, she wasn't a fan of too much attention. Mai frowns at Ichigo; he knew immediately he won't win her over that easily.

"Thanks again, Unohana-san," Ichigo replies, and he takes Mai's small backpack that is used to carry her lunch, and her new pack of crayons. Mai walks towards Ichigo her arms crossing around her torso. Unohana gives Ichigo a worried look, but Ichigo waves her off. Unohana notices Yachiru when she practically jumps over and hugs Unohana out of nowhere. "Unohana! I'm back~!" Yachiru shouts happily. Unohana laughs lightly and hugs Yachiru back.

Ichigo says goodbye to them before taking Mai's small hand with his large hand. The two walk towards the truck in silence, and Ichigo absolutely hates the tension in the air. Mai wasn't very silent when they were alone. She's a pretty loud kid most of the time. Ichigo misses hearing her crazy stories about the other kids at the preschool and what they all do during the day. It is the best part of his day; Ichigo opens the passenger seat door for her, since she can't reach and buckles her into her booster seat. Ichigo walks over to his side and gets into his own seat.

The truck is brightly lit by the sun that is slowly moving down in the sky. The trees around the street were turning colours, since summer is coming to a close quickly. He is glad he bought Mai the warm beige sweater she's wearing since the air is getting colder as well. "So, how was your day?" Ichigo asks Mai, his hands sitting on the driving wheel, his knuckles turning white.

Mai was blessed with Ichigo's bright orange locks, and her small nose and light green eyes resemble her mother - but Ichigo loves her orange hair. It's the only proof that she is his kid, and his alone. Her hair is slightly wavy, like her mothers, and is tied in a small ponytail with a sparkly elastic band Ichigo bought her recently, she has side bangs and her green eyes turn an even lighter green in the afternoon sun. She's still silent, and Ichigo just sighs before beginning to drive out of the parking lot.

Mai, glances over at her father, and immediately notices his unhappy expression. She begins to feel guilty for him, but then realizes that _she_ was the one who was waiting forever for him. It isn't fair that he's angry.

Ichigo turns on Mai's favourite radio station with catchy pop song tunes that she loves. Mai can't help but smile as she mouths the lyrics under her breath. Ichigo hears her saying the lyrics but doesn't say anything. The two drive to their crappy old apartment in cold silence. The truck is warm due to the warm air breezing through the air-conditioning.

The only thing Ichigo thinks of is sleeping on the couch when he arrives home, that's before he realizes that he has to make dinner for Mai soon. It is only 2:30, so he has plenty of time to make it up to her. He'll play house with her if she wants, or have a small tea party with no actual tea or talk with Mr. Whiskers the orange cat.

It didn't matter that he felt like sleeping for a whole day; he needs to bring a smile to Mai's face, or else she'll become unhappy like he always was. He didn't want that for Mai at all. He could take a nap after dinner, or after he tucks Mai to bed at 7 p.m.

Mai's green eyes lighting up against the setting sun kept Ichigo going. He remembers now, the reason he's still standing upright. Those green eyes filled with amber specs in the sunlight were like nothing Ichigo has ever seen; he couldn't give up - not with those eyes still shining so bright.

**-Thanks for reading~! This story is supposed to be kind of like where everyone is somehow related to someone else. For example how Yachiru goes to Mai's preschool, and Kenpachi, Yachiru's father is also Ichigo's boss at work. There is going to be plenty of overlaying relations between the characters, and I'm excited to put it all together!**


	2. Chapter 2: Blind Love

**Writer's Note:**

**-Chapter 2's here~! Woohoo~! Don't know the plan for this chapter, I may include some Renji and Jackie or some Gin and Rangiku. Rangiku's birthday is on September 29th which is this weekend (when I'm writing this!) Thanks to all the reviewers, love getting feedback and criticism - and to my sister for checking over this for me, she's my mini editor~! :3 she gave me a 7/10 on this chap, tell me what you think of it!**

_This font for: thoughts, notifications on phone, or flashbacks_

_**Chapter 2:**__** Blind Love**_

Jackie stares angrily at the blank screen in front of her. She should be working on sending everyone notices on an upcoming meeting with a big client; Kyoraku-san. Ukitake-san is an old friend of the strange, lenient man, and is an owner of a business that needs our advertising expertise. Jackie's mind is far from her job however. The recent predicament with Renji has taken a strange toll on her daily life. She thought it wouldn't be hard to forget about touching Renji's lips with her own - I mean she isn't a Highschooler. But every time she closes her eyes she's there sitting in that tall bar chair, and Renji is leaning in close to her face; and the worst part is she let's him kiss her despite the fact she's sober!

Jackie hadn't told Rukia the entire story; she left out the fact that she did not drink a thing, and the fact that she had to help Renji into a cab with her. That the man was spewing out nonsense on how beautiful she looks when she's working at her desk, and she has a small crease on her forehead when she's thinking, how he loves looking at her when she's laughing with Rukia. He couldn't be telling her the truth - or at least that's what she told herself to believe, it's not like she didn't notice some sexual tension between them, sure there is some but they were co-workers, they can't possibly date each other.

Renji seemed so happy though, he was smiling more than she has ever seen him smile, and there was this brightness in his dark small eyes that she never saw in those orbs before that night. This is why every time she went to work she worried if Renji would talk to her - she'd ignored him practically all week. Normally she ate lunch with him and Rukia but lately she's lied and told Rukia she was busy with work and couldn't eat with them in the cafeteria.

She finally decides to give up on her work for the night and closes her laptop's screen before shoving the device away from her. She notices that she left her phone in her jacket pocket, and decides to check it in case Rangiku needs a ride home (she often got drunk at bars) or if Rukia is having a crisis of some sorts. Whether it be her judgmental, strict brother-in-law, or her pushy older sister who wants to know everything about Rukia's love life. Jackie doesn't really have any family members, they are all distant; her brother, sister, mother and father all passed away in a robbery gone wrong in her old house. She doesn't like thinking about them but her only family is Rukia, Rangiku and Renji. Every time she talks with them she wonders what life would be like if her family was still living. Would she not worry about Renji and her becoming more than friends?_  
><em>

She shakes her head in order to rid those strange thoughts from her mind. Jackie reaches her hand inside her black jacket's pocket and realizes her phone is vibrating. She unlocks the screen and discovers she has 3 new messages.

_Message One._

From: Rukia Kuchiki

Do you have plans for tonight? Maybe a late movie? We can laugh at a cheesy rom-com. Or even talk about what happened with Renji - have you even talked with him since then? He's getting worried you know :( - and I'm running out of excuses to say. It's quiet around my apartment - it kinda feels creepy, and you know how deserted my place is. Come over or something.

_Sent_ at 8:30 p.m

_Message Two._

From: Rangiku Matsumoto

Heyu~! How's my tall chocoalita doing? I'm only kidding J-chan! ;) Call, ASAP! Serious emergency!

_Sent_ at 9:00 p.m (2 minutes ago)

_Message Three_

From: Renji Abarai

Hey, how are you? Haven't heard from you in awhile.

_Sent_ 1 minute ago.

Jackie makes her way to her kitchen as she scans the messages, a worried line etching on her forehead after reading Rukia's message, and it becoming more apparent after Rangiku's. She never understood why Rukia never texted Rangiku to come over, then again Rangiku may be out at a bar and needs to be taken home. But Rangiku doesn't normally text when she needs a ride - she can barely even talk. Rangiku probably didn't want to worry Rukia about whatever this emergency really is.

Renji's message is so daunting that she just ignores it momentarily, then she realizes he will only get angrier if she does that. She decides to have a drink of water before thinking of what to text him. She hates using her phone to text - she has a flip phone so it's extremely hard to use when texting any message - normally she calls the person and talks with them, but she can't call Renji. Not when she's thinking about them kissing and replaying it in her head wherever she goes.

Whilst struggling to type on her phone Jackie finally types and sends a message to Renji.

To: Renji Abarai

I'm sorry. Been busy lately with work. I miss eating with you guys at lunch. And talking with you - especially talking with you.

(^3^)

Rangiku is staring at her cell phone's screen, she texted Jackie awhile ago, there still hasn't been a call - she may be doing work, or out on a hot date with Renji. She seriously doubted the latter, she would be surprised if the two even locked lips as of yet. Those two were oblivious to love, but almost everyone never knows when they are in love. Rangiku sure understood that more than anyone. There was a time when she thought Gin would always be there for her, then he had gone to a University - she was happy for him of course almost no one in her countryside farmland ever went to the city. But, in the back of her mind she had imagined the two leaving together one day, like lovers or something, maybe a confession of his love before he left.

But Gin was always the same, he left with nothing more than the smell of him in her bedroom. He was all but a memory in her mind; no one knew of his existence when she moved to the city and went to college. She never heard from Gin again, it felt like he was a ghost that followed her every move - haunting her thoughts. She never felt as happy with anyone else as Gin. When it was Gin and her, it was just them - no one else. They were always together. It was always that way.

She couldn't stand waiting for a man who may never even come.

_Rangiku giggles lightly as she beams up at her Father who's milking one of the cows in the barn. "I'm going on an adventure - and I'll find something, I swear it!" Rangiku hollers loudly. The only other noises apparent were the moos of other cows, and oinks from the new born piglets. Rangiku's light blue eyes were shining even in the shade of the old manure smelling barn. Her father was doubting her abilities to find a piece of treasure on her adventure around the farm. Rangiku is 6 years old, she is running out of games to play and hunting for treasure seems to be her new found joy, especially ever since her father showed her the fairy tale of Peter Pan, and the pirates who wanted treasure and nothing else._

_"Of course, my little Beauty. You go on that adventure and find something magnificent! Just make sure you finish your chores by dinner," he father says with a grin, his blue eyes contrasting his dark hair colour. She was blessed with her father's eyes, and her Mom's bright strawberry blonde locks. She didn't talk about Mom ever though - her Dad didn't like it when she asked when her mother would be back from her "working trip". Parents assume children are oblivious to things, but even Rangiku knew better than believing that her mother would come back any day now. It had been three years already, she wouldn't be back anytime soon. Maybe even ever._

_Rangiku's head bobs her short hair shifting as she nods eagerly to her father in agreement. She woke up early today to finish most of her chores. So her entire day is free __to hunt for treasure._

_"See you later, Dad!" Rangiku says as she skips out of the barn, her old brown boots squeaking slightly, and her grin so large it rivaled the Cheshire cat. She pulls out a crumpled lined piece of paper from her blue overalls pocket, and reads the map she drew quickly the day before after dinner. She decides to start her mission in the wheat fields that were very large and tall compared to her small height. She thought someone may have left their things in the fields or a coin may have fell out of her father's pocket. She never ventured into the fields before, but since her father never told her it was dangerous she decides it's okay to go look around for a little bit. _

_The bright blaring sun, causes Rangiku to squint her eyes immediately when she looks up form her map drawing. She sighs, remembering to get her new white sunhat for the treasure hunt, and some sunscreen. She heads into her small white cozy house, with only two bedrooms, one kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. Her small room is in the attic, which Rangiku loves most about her home. It got cold during winters, and hot during summer, but she loves the musty smell of it. _

_She grabs her sunhat from the kitchen table and begins searching for the sunscreen. She finds it in the bathroom in one of the cabinets, but in order to reach the damn sunscreen she has to stand on the toilet. _

_Once retrieving her small backpack to put her treasure in and the sunscreen bottle to reapply more for later during the day, she heads outside once more. She turns towards the wheat fields across the small path beside the barn containing most of their animals. The others were out in the fields eating grass or just standing around - like most of the cows. _

_She stops in front of the tall wheat and takes one last breath before stepping into the field. Immediately Rangiku is taken aback by just how tall the wheat is, but Rangiku is a persistent child, and if Peter Pan can sword fight Captain Hook, then surely, she can handle some ordinary wheat fields. So she ventures on, pushing the wheat out of her way as she continues. She doesn't know how long she's been walking since her eyes are focusing on the ground, hoping to find some rare artifact. So far she's found one yen coin and an old bobby pin. _

_She realizes it's getting pretty hot and she should probably turn back until she realizes that she doesn't remember which way she came from. To calm herself from freaking out she decides to sit down, catch her breath, and reapply sunscreen. Her arms after her white short sleeve shirt were slightly burned near the top of her arms, above her elbows. Her throat is dry, and her thirst for a cold glass of water hangs over her head. Envisioning the water only causes her mouth to water, and she shakes her head frustrated with her predicament. _

_Since she couldn't possibly fathom which way she came from she decides on spinning around in circles and counting to ten before stopping at a direction. Her pointing finger lands to her left and Rangiku begins walking again, praying in her head that Kami would take her home safely by the time it's lunch. Another thing she forgot to bring was a watch - she doesn't know whether ten minutes have passed or over an hour. She wonders if her father is still working on milking the cows. _

_She hopes that if it starts turning dark that her Dad will get a search team in order to find her like in the movies she watches sometimes on T.V. Where the father stops at nothing and the mother is freaking out because her child got lost at the mall. The kid always seems overly stupid, causes too many problems and the parents aren't very bright as well. It's only then that Rangiku realizes that she's the stupid kid in the movies that she saw, who went off without any idea on how to get back. _

_After walking forwards for who knows how long, Rangiku begins second guessing herself, thinking she chose the wrong way. She's tired of walking now, and just wants to sleep despite the fact the burning sun is seeping heat onto her sweaty back. Her cheeks flush from the heat in the air and sunburn stains her nose. Rangiku feels like crying because she wishes she never left - adventures weren't as fun as they made them out them to be - especially when you're alone. She didn't want to be lost forever._

_She didn't want to be forgotten._

_Tears began falling from her pale eyes, and she could no longer see where she's going. She stops walking and sits down onto the dry ground. She huddles her legs close to her torso, wrapping her hands tightly around her knees. Her short hair is a tangled mess, and frizzy since her hair is naturally wavy, some pieces of wheat are left discarded onto her locks. Her feet are aching, and she feels like ripping her shoes off her feet; just to let them breath. _

_This is this point when she wonders if she will never be found - and if anyone would even miss her. They didn't really have any relatives, and each farm in the neighborhood is far apart from each other. There is a school that takes twenty minutes to drive to; Rangiku is lucky she even got to go to that school. The kids at school knew her but didn't always talk with her. She is a little too extravagant for them - and she doesn't understand half of the games or T.V shows they all talk about. She doesn't have any video games or cartoon channels; she only has three channels on her television set that's outdated by a couple of years. _

_Her tears are coating her cheeks and she begins rubbing her dirty hand over her eyes in hope of ridding the embarrassing tears. It didn't seem to help at all; her eyes still wouldn't stop tearing up, and a sob began to escape from her dry throat. She didn't understand why she's crying - she's not a toddler anymore! She doesn't know why she can't stop herself from the sobbing and the sniffling of her red sunburned nose._

_She begins picturing her Dad's face, how he loves to tickle her and make her laugh in the silliest ways. This only causes her heart to break in half, she didn't want to disappoint him, or get him angry she didn't want to make him sad! The only thing she feels is anger towards herself for thinking she can be some mighty hero, like Peter Pan is. She wasn't, she will never be good enough, or smart enough like the other kids at school. _

_It is in this moment of her sobbing and self wallowing that Rangiku hears crinkling of wheat being pushed aside, and shuffling of feet. At first Rangiku is ecstatic and brimming with joy, until she realizes that it could be an animal, or maybe even a stranger. She wouldn't know until she saw the person. She didn't know whether to call for help or run away. 'What if it's a axe murderer?' Rangiku thinks to herself, 'Then I'll be stupid for leading them towards me'. But before she can debate whether or not she should do anything someone's hand moves a piece of wheat away directly in front of her._

_Rangiku is staring at the hand and realizes, it's not her fathers and is much smaller. 'A murderer wouldn't have small hands' Rangiku thought quickly as she stood up, readying herself for the person whilst rubbing her teary eyes. Despite this new predicament tears were still forming around her eyes. _

_The stranger finally pokes their body through the wheat and takes a step right into Rangiku, causing the said person to fall over from the impact. "Ouch," the stranger mumbled whilst rubbing their head. Rangiku realizes as she rubs her own head that the stranger was anything but a threat to her._

_The stranger is a little boy about her age. She didn't quite trust him completely, but she knew the probability of him being bad is low. The said boy gets up from where he fell and continues to rub his head. "Hello thar. What ya doing in the fields?" the silver haired boy questioned with a wide happy smile. Rangiku wonders why any boy could be smiling in these scary wheat fields that's practically a maze - with no way out. _

_She sniffles slightly, and rubs her teary eyes before opening them again mumbling, "I came to find treasure - you know forgotten stuff. But I failed - and now I don't know how to get home!" She sounds like a baby and she knows it, she's whining as much as a two year old. She looks away from his curious gaze and is full of astonishment when the boy chimes, "Don't ya worry. I'll get ya home if a jiffy. Yer pretty nice so I'll help ya."_

_Rangiku looks up at him, her eyes shining in happiness. She didn't understand why he'd said that - that the reason he's helping her is because she's nice. She is sure that everyone would be nice to a boy like him. He seems smart, and probably has answers to anything. She then notices that the boy's eyes were always closed ever since he rammed into her._

_He takes her hand in his, and Rangiku's eyes widen, remembering all the fairy tales where the knight in shining armor comes to save the princess - is this boy her knight? _

_She shakes her head - trying to think logically. Those are fairy tales she tells herself in her head. She stills blushes as the two begin walking towards her home - or at least that's what she's guessing. She tells him her address, and rambles on as to why she went into the fields in the first place. Normally kids find her boring and tell her to be quiet but the boy laughs at her jokes, and listens to her every sentence that comes from her mouth. She likes this boy, and hopes they can be friends. She never had a friend to talk to before. She doesn't remember seeing anyone who resembles the boy - with his strange silver hair, and the unseen eyes that lay hidden._

_She begins thinking of different possibilities, that he's maybe a spirit, or an alien from another planet; it could be like one of those movies. But the boy is definitely human, his white t-shirt had stains on it, and his shorts were a little too big on him. His shoes were old and looked like they were about to fall apart with every step he took. Rangiku looks up at the boy again and realizes how sure of himself he is, that each stride taken is confident, and calculative. How many times has this boy walked in these fields? Is this what he does for fun?_

_"What's your name - if you don't mind me asking?" Rangiku questions as she stares up at the sky, realizing a crow is flying over their heads. She can even see the scarecrow her father and her made last winter, meaning that they were close to her farm. _

_"My name? Gin. Gin Ichimaru."_

_"That's a strange name," Rangiku mumbles, her eyelids becoming heavy, and her body begins slowing down. She doesn't even realizes she fell until Gin is hovering over her, his smile still present. He gives a short laugh at her statement, grabs her arm, and puts it over his thin shoulder. _

_She didn't remember much after that, she faintly remembers being hoisted onto Gin's back and him saying something near her ear. She is sleeping now, and the only sounds she hears is the shuffling of Gin's feet on the dry ground, and the sound of wheat being moved._

_"Gin. I like how it sounds."_

Rangiku snaps back to reality when the bartender clanks her now refilled glass in front of her. She is drinking heavily tonight - and she's not quite sure why. Gin said he may be able to meet her here tonight, and when he spoke on the phone with her there were noises in the background. She wonders where he is, if he's kissing some girl in an apartment, or watching a movie with a long time girlfriend. Picturing both causes her stomach to flip in circles. The memories of the simpler days were coming back to her. And she didn't want to remember anything right now; she didn't want to relive those moments she misses.

She downs the drink in one go, and signals to the bartender to have another. She groans as her eyes fall on a couple flirting with each other, whilst laughing beside her. Her lips fall on her new drink, pales eyes casting forwards, those eyes reflecting the memories of a past life she no longer accepts. A part of her wishes she can go back; but she knows even doing that wouldn't change a thing.

It would all still turn out the same damn way.

(^3^)

"So you're telling me that we have a meeting today? Why didn't you tell me this last night - I don't know maybe when _we talked on the phone_?" Rukia asks angrily, her thin eyebrow twitching in irritation at Jackie who is grinning as if this is nothing big at all.

It's currently Monday; meaning a start of a new week. Or in other words, repeating the same job routine you always do. That is what Rukia thought her day would turn out to be - just sending emails or talking with clients, and assisting Ishida in any way. But _no_, apparently they have a meeting this afternoon. This means that she has to help Ishida with everything concerning it, while finishing everything else she has to do on top of it all.

Jackie seems guilty for a moment, her eyes looking away from Rukia's darkening orbs, and Rukia immediately stops Jackie by raising her hand. "It's fine. I forget about things sometimes too - don't worry about it," Rukia sighs her eyes closing. The two women were in Rukia's office, and Jackie is making the rounds to people who she forgot to e-mail about the meeting. Rukia notices Jackie's look is still there and Rukia plops down onto her leather desk chair, knowing immediately Jackie wants to talk about something.

"You haven't talked with Renji yet, have you?" she asks, her voice serious and calm. Jackie's eyes cast down to her shoes, guilt written on her face. She mumbles, "I'm going to tell him about the meeting right now." Violet eyes met with brown eyes, and Rukia smiles at her friend, and signals Jackie to go now. Jackie blushes slightly and rolls her eyes at her friend before heading out of the office. Rukia turns to her PC, just wishing for lunch to arrive so the meeting could be over with. It is going to be a long day.

(^3^)

"Aren't you supposed to be bussing tables?" Ichigo Kurosaki questions pointedly.

"Shouldn't _you_ start getting a girlfriend? Or are you afraid to come out of the closet?" Lisa Yadomaru remarks with a flip of her woman's swimsuit magazine she's reading at the bar. Her bangs fall slightly over her blue eyes and her ebony braids swing around her shoulders.

Ichigo's eye twitches angrily, "Why you little!" -

"Lisa stop pestering Ichigo about getting a girlfriend and _maybe_ start focusing on the job I _told you to do_," Riruka Dokugamine interrupts Ichigo, and bonks Lisa on the head lightly with her clipboard. Lisa is unfazed by Riruka's threat and just rolls her eyes at the pink haired woman standing behind her.

Lisa is the busgirl - she wipes and cleans dirty tables. Riruka tells her where to go and is also the main hostess of the restaurant "Ken & Yachiru's" named by Kenpachi himself. He may seem tough but he has a secret soft side for a certain bubble gum haired child. Ichigo glares at Lisa for insulting him, and then says his teeth grinding impatiently, "Riruka next time don't interrupt me!" his eyes darkening as he glances to Riruka.

Riruka sighs her pink eyes unamused by the orange haired bartender. She's not in the mood to have any more problems tonight it's only 6:30 p.m. and Mashiro already spilled a whole tables food on the floor, four guests have gotten cold food from Hachi, and now Lisa's slacking off, what else is next?

Lisa is wearing her regular black button up, with black jeans and her usual apron tied around her waist. Riruka flips one of her long ponytails over her shoulder of her black frilly dress shirt, wearing matching black suit pants.

Riruka replies, "Relax carrot top - I just have bad timing. Calm yourself."

Lisa laughs at Ichigo who merely glares daggers at the woman across from him as he wipes a wine glass. His amber eye twitches in annoyance holding back the urge to rip her face off for laughing at him as Lisa shoves her magazine towards Ichigo and heads to a dirty table.

"You're gonna need it more than I do," Lisa chimes, between giggles. At this point Ichigo feel as if he's about to explode from pure anger. He wonders why he even bothers coming to this job, since everyone treats him like a horny teenager.

Ichigo's multiple thoughts of murdering the busgirl are interrupted by Riruka stating, "Don't let her bother you, Ichigo. Anyways, Kenpachi-san wants to talk with you in his office," she then walks back to the restaurant entrance waving a goodbye to Ichigo. Ichigo waves at Riruka also, despite the fact she's not even looking back to him.

He instantly became nervous his whole body frozen thinking _why would he want to talk with me?_ Ichigo decides to leave now since no one is at the bar yet. Plus, Gin - the manager of the restaurant - is supposed to arrive soon anyways. Gin normally works at the bar with Ichigo, bartending whilst managing the entire restaurant.

Ichigo places the glass down among the other clean glasses, and turns back towards the magazine still sitting on the bar. Ichigo gives the said magazine a slight glare remembering Lisa's smug voice, Ichigo shivers at the thought of Lisa, and immediately grabs a napkin to pick up the magazine and throw it into a nearby trashcan. Ichigo has no clue where that revolting thing's been, and there's no way in hell he'd ever touch it with his bare hands. Lisa is known for being kind of perverted and creepy at times.

"Good riddance," Ichigo says, feeling accomplished in some sort of way. But he did feel sorry for the poor trashcan having to carry such a disgusting magazine.

The orange haired man makes his way around the square wooden tables towards Kenpachi's office that is on the right side of the restaurant. The kitchen is located in the back, Hachi the chef has a variety of different foods on the menu from french fries to exquisite fancy dishes from Paris. Anyone and everyone comes to eat at this restaurant in the city, and it's become a popular spot amongst university and college students. Also for hot dates, and singles who crowd the bar late at night. Kenpachi is lucky he bought the place.

Most people working there are paying for school whether it be university or college like Lisa, Orihime the new bubbly waitress that Riruka has taken under her wing, Kensei the dish washer, and Mashiro, his girlfriend who's a waitress. Ichigo wonders how Kensei can work with his girlfriend - then again they work in separate rooms.

Ichigo takes a deep breath before knocking on Kenpachi's dark brown office door. "Come in," Kenpachi's rough voice rumbles from behind the closed door. Ichigo nods to himself, for mental encouragement, before opening the office door. He immediately loses all faith when witnessing Kenpachi's large body squashed behind his small desk.

The office doesn't really grant much thinking space, and the desk is filled with papers and binders, the only character brought to the office is the lone picture frame of Kenpachi and Yachiru hugging each other, a bright smile on Yachiru's face, and a small slight smile on Kenpachi's sitting on his small desk. Besides that there were no paintings, or even plants for that matter. Though Riruka tried bringing in some decorative items once - which didn't end too well since Riruka's style is known to be quite girly and well, childish.

"Sit down Kurosaki," Kenpachi states seriously, no happiness in his voice at all, as he looks up at Ichigo. Kenpachi is a pretty strange man, but a lot less strange than Urahara. Kenpachi may seem weird due to his large size, booming voice, and long dark hair but the man is actually quite normal once you get to know him. Sometimes he can be weird but most of the time he acts like a regular owner of a restaurant. Though he does look like some sort of body builder.

Ichigo plops down quickly, onto the small leather seat in front of Kenpachi's desk. Ichigo feels kind of too tall for the seat but keeps his mouth shut since Kenpachi doesn't seem to be in a good mood at the moment. Ichigo isn't quite sure he's even seen the man in a good mood before. Ichigo wonders if he's about to lose his job; he wouldn't be surprised since it's happened plenty of times before. He isn't sure whether he'd be able to find a new job to pay for rent and food for this week- he mentally prays to not be fired for a little while longer. These jobs were just what he needs to pay for everything necessary.

"Relax Kurosaki - I'm not going to fire you or anything," Kenpachi smiles slightly at Ichigo, holding back a laugh from Ichigo's panicked face, like a deer caught in the headlights. Ichigo sighs from pure relief and wipes his sweaty forehead with his hand, brushing his hand against his tangled orange locks slightly in the process. "So what do you want to talk about?" Ichigo asks quickly, despite his job here being safe, he still felt uneasy sitting in front of Kenpachi and looking at him straight in the eye.

"I just wanted to say you're doing well here, and Gin has been saying nothing but great things abut you. Says you're a natural in the bar setting, and that the women keep coming back - meaning more profit. So keep doing what you're doing now and everything will be fine," Kenpachi answers his voice sounding happy, and even a little excited about Ichigo's success. Ichigo begins thinking he may need to get his ears checked; Kenpachi is never like this. Ichigo thanks Kenpachi and begins to stand up thinking he's done talking, but Kenpachi growls, "I'm not done yet!"

Ichigo practically squeaks an apology, his voice cracking and he sits down so fast, a cheetah would wish to be as quick as him. Kenpachi chuckles to himself at Ichigo's fearful expression on his face. Kenpachi remembers times where he'd beat up and rob people like Ichigo, but those days are over now. He has Yachiru now, and he wouldn't change a thing about his new life. It may be different but he loves it deep down inside that stone heart of his.

"I've decided to put you on work this Friday night, from 5:30 to 11:30 p.m.," Kenpachi states, his dark eyes digging a hole through Ichigo's skull. "I'm working Thursday still, right?" Ichigo questions, but he wishes he didn't have to work Thursday also - he hasn't had enough time with Mai. He also hasn't been getting nearly enough sleep, and it's seriously beginning to show. "Yes you are. That's fine, right?" Kenpachi clarifies. Ichigo is about to tell him he'd like the day off, but realizes he might as well work and earn some extra money for next week.

"Yeah, it's fine. Is that all?" Ichigo asks, wanting to get out of this hell of an office as soon as possible. "Yes, you can go. Oh and close the door on the way out," his boss growls, his voice echoing throughout the small room.

"Yes sir," Ichigo nods, before swiftly getting up from his seat and heading out the door, making sure to close the door on his way out.

As Ichigo heads back to the bar, he realizes the tables have now become full with customers, and he starts sprinting back towards the bar as quickly as he can. When he's behind the counter he allows himself to give a content small smile for getting back before anyone went to the bar. He notices with a frown that Gin has yet to arrive to the bar. The moment he thinks of the whereabouts of his co-worker, the said man arrives from the restaurant's entrance. Maybe getting an update from Riruka since Gin is the manager of the restaurant, and also the best bartender in the entire city, at least for Ichigo - and it wasn't an exaggeration, the man knew how to do everything, and almost everyone loves his work.

Gin's silver locks shine against the lights of the bar, and it's only until Gin stands beside Ichigo's left side that Ichigo realizes Gin has a deflated look on his face. It is strange - Gin is always up and atom, and lively - he's never upset or unhappy. Gin is the prankster amongst the group, he teases almost everyone, and always knows how to brighten someone's day, Ichigo would say if he didn't get a job as a manager he could might as well be a psychologist.

Gin's eyes had purple bags underneath his always closed eyes. To this day Ichigo has no clue what Gin's eyes look like, and he would rather keep it that way considering the fact that Gin goes out of his way to close them all the time. Gin coughs, into his elbow as to not disturb the customers around them. Ichigo turns to his friend. Ichigo uses the term friend loosely since Gin is probably the only person he actually talks with still that he may consider a friend. Everyone else work in different areas, so he doesn't really call them his friends. Despite Gin's weird presence and strange looks, he isn't a bad person, and Ichigo knows more than anyone to not judge a book by it's cover. He has bright orange hair for Kami's sake!

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asks.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You don't look too good."

"I was sick all of this weekend - could barely get out of bed. Thought I'd cough up ma lungs," Gin jokes, but in between his sentence he has to cough a couple of times. Gin being sick is news to Ichigo, the man is always there at work.

"Why don't you take the day off? I can handle the bar tonight, I'm sure Kenpachi would" -

"No way. Ya still a beginner, and someone needs to serve the customers the harder blends that even I have troubles with at times. Kenpachi would rip out my lungs with his bare hands if I told him I was taking today off. I'm the manager remember? Who do ya think keeps this place going?" Gin questions Ichigo with a raise of an eyebrow.

Ichigo stills doesn't believe him, the man did look seriously ill. And the fact the man never takes a day off is crazy. Sure, Ichigo didn't take days off, but he has Mai, Gin doesn't have any kids to take care of or food to put on the table for more than one person. But when Ichigo finally opened up about Mai, Gin told him he'd love to meet her one day. He said he'd like a kid of his own one day - but he doubted it would ever happen. Ichigo is about to disagree and force Gin to leave when a high pitched voice interrupts them, "Kurosaki-kun! How are you doing?"

Gin and Ichigo's faces turn towards the right and they see Orihime Inoue smiling brightly at Ichigo. Gin says, "I'll let you two chat," before leaving Ichigo alone with the bright woman. Ichigo scowls at Gin who waves as he walks to the other end of the bar, a large grin spreading across his pale face. Ichigo thinks, _I'll get you back for this_. Ichigo begins thinking of possible ways to screw over the man later - but comes up with absolutely nothing.

"Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asks, her voice seeming worried as a small line etches onto her forehead, her grey eyes lingering on Ichigo's angry ambers.

"Oh, yeah I'm doing fine. How bout you?" Ichigo answers his co-worker immediately, wanting to get the conversation over with. He immediately regrets responding to her when Orihime begins rambling about her weekend at her University- she is studying to become a nurse. It's not that Ichigo doesn't like Orihime, she's a really nice person, it's just that she can be so talkative and such a handful at times. Orihime always seems interested in Ichigo, and he can tell she may have feelings for him - he wasn't oblivious to others, he just pretends he doesn't know so that he doesn't have to face rejecting her. He doesn't like hurting peoples feelings, especially someone as innocent and kind as Orihime.

"Anyways, enough about me Kurosaki-kun, how's Mai doing?" Orihime questions Ichigo and before Ichigo can respond, Riruka calls Orihime from the front entrance sounding urgent. "We'll talk later!" Orihime chimes as she skips over to the entrance, her long orange-red hair bouncing from side to side in it's ponytail.

Gin slowly slides over to Ichigo after refilling a man's glass. "You're going to have to tell her at some point," the silver hair man states seriously - today Gin seems to be acting completely strange, being sick was one thing but acting actually serious is completely new. "I can't tell her - not yet," Ichigo replies quickly, "Plus, what about you? Shouldn't you be looking for a woman to be with or something? I've seen many women flirt with you, but you don't flirt back at all."

Gin shrugs at Ichigo, not saying anything back at all. Ichigo's amber eyes glance towards his friend, and Ichigo still feels Gin may be even more mysterious than Urahara and that's saying something. He kind of feels like Gin has some sort of other entire secret life that Ichigo doesn't even know about like a superhero. Ichigo sighs, giving up on asking Gin any questions since there's no chance the sick man would even bother answering. The only sounds heard are the loud murmurs from people sitting at tables enjoying their dinners.

"People are so strange sometimes, ya know? Gathering to one certain place surrounded by people you know and people who are strangers. Not having a worry in the world," Gin states, his mouth still not smiling as he wipes a glass to rid it of smudges.

"You're right."

(^3^)

Rukia gives out a long awaited sigh of relief before closing her apartment's door. She turns on the lights, and despite giving the room some brightness, the apartment feels as lonely as ever. She sighs again before ripping off her wedges, and stretching her aching toes - she should have worn flats today.

Rukia is about to text Jackie to drive over and maybe even Rangiku too, when her phone starts ringing, she slides the touch screen to pick up the call from Rangiku.

"Hello?"

"Heyu~! Ruk, hon, I'm - I'm at a bar and-and" -

"Rangiku, just tell me where you are I'll be there in a few minutes," Rukia states swiftly, she knows the woman can barely talk, let alone keep a straight conversation with her. After getting the address, Rukia ends the call after swearing to Rangiku she'll come. Rukia grabs her car keys, and apartment keys before heading out the door of her apartment. She can't help but feel worried for her tall bright friend, the flirty woman has been acting strange lately - especially ever since that encounter she had with Gin.

(^3^)

Rukia parks on the side of the road quickly, and waits for some cars to go by before hopping out of the car and walking around to get to the sidewalk. Her violet eyes squint around, looking for her busty friend, and soon enough her eyes land on the bright strawberry blonde hair of Rangiku who's leaning against the brick wall for support. Rukia wonders how Jackie could deal with Rangiku so well on multiple occasions, she may need to call Jackie for some moral support. Rangiku never calls Rukia, so it may be serious.

Once Rukia helps Rangiku into the passenger side of her small car, she gets into the driver's seat and begins driving smoothly back to her apartment, thinking she should probably watch Rangiku until she calms down.

"So, what happened?" Rukia asks.

"Awe, Ruks, you'll never get a boy with that frowny frown on your face~!" Rangiku giggles, and hiccups towards the end of her sentence.

Rukia's cellphone begins ringing from it's spot near the cup holders, and Rangiku takes the phone and answers the call.

"Helloo~!" Rangiku singsongs, her voice high pitched. Rukia immediately cringes from the horrible sound and yells, "Hey, give me the phone!" and she reaches over to grab the phone out of Rangiku's hand.

"Hello? Who is this?" Hisana Kuchiki questions, Rukia recognizes her sister's voice and begs Rangiku to put it on speaker phone. "It's Rangiku, Rukia's friend!"

"Oh - Rangiku, now I understand. Where's Rukia?" Hisana was told about Rangiku getting drunk on multiple occasions.

"Oh, she's -hic- driving-hic-!" Rangiku hiccups, and giggles whenever she hiccups.

"Can you put the phone on speaker phone? Please?" Hisana asks sweetly her voice patient and calm. Rangiku squeals and listens to the older woman, clicking speaker phone before roughly placing the phone back into the cupholder.

"Nee-chan what is it?" Rukia questions, while taking a right turn.

"What are you doing?! You're supposed to be going on that blind date, remember? It took forever to reschedule this!" Hisana whines into the phone, sounding desperate.

"Ruks, you have a date?!"

Rukia rolls her eyes at her eccentric sister, and ignores Rangiku's astonished face, "I'm not going and I already told you I wasn't ready! Plus, I have to take care of Rangiku!"

"But Rukia you haven't gone out in forever, you have to put yourself out there. This guy is different than the others, he's tall, successful, and really gorgeous-"

"I don't care if he's the sexiest man in the world, I'm not going!"

"Rukia-nee! You promised me one more try, remember? Please?"

Rukia groans in defeat, "Fine! I'll call Jackie and-"

"Jackie's out on a date with Renji!" Rangiku pipes up, just as Rukia is about to end the call with Hisana. Rukia freezes, "Wait, what?! With Renji! Oh ma god, they're on a date?!" Rukia explodes, as she jumps up and down in her seat in pure delight. They were at a red light and Rukia kept glancing at the road to watch for when it changes back to green.

"Oooooo, Renji and Jackie?!" Hisana asks, seeming absorbed in the love life of Rukia's friend.

"Well, it's actually just a meeting since Renji's in charge of all the graphic designers~! But I know Jackie secretly means it's a hot date! So don't call her - unless you want to interrupt some serious Renji and Jackie time!" Rangiku bursts excitedly, and Rukia falters from ending the call, since now Jackie couldn't be bothered by Rangiku.

"Rukia-nee, how bout you go to the date and I pick up Rangiku?" Hisana suggests quickly, Rukia's cell still lying in the cup holders.

Rukia sighs as she drives forward past the now green lights, "No it's fine Nee-chan. I'll go to the date though and handle Rangiku."

"Don't be" - Rukia ends the call cutting off Hisana's reminder swiftly. Rangiku giggles and her glossy lips are in a tight smile, "Sooo, start going to that date of yours!"

"Wha? I have to drop you off, plus I'm a mess and" -

"Ruks, I'm serious, I'll just wait in the car. You said yourself you want to get it over with right? So it'll be quick! Plus, you need to loosen up and quit being so uptight!"

"Huh? I'm not uptight! I just" -

"You don't _have_ to get dressed up perfectly for every date, relax and have fun already!" Rangiku encourages Rukia, the alcohol in her somehow leaving her system in a couple of seconds. Rukia is surprised Rangiku isn't slurring her sentences anymore. She guesses the woman can hold her liquor.

"Okay," Rukia nods.

Rangiku smiles towards her friend repeating Rukia's response, "Okay."

**Writer's Note:**

**Kami: means God in Japan**

**Yen: a Japanese coin (currency)**

**Nee-chan: Older Sister**

**-sorry if this ends badly, I'm never quite sure with my endings. I didn't want this to get too long so I decided to stop here and continue into chapter 3. And YES~! Gin works with Ichi~! Chapter 3 will have more Mai and Ichigo interaction since I feel like we aren't getting enough of Mai's character in here yet, since Ichigo is always at work. So get ready for cuteness~! Loved writing young Rangiku and Gin, though I'm never sure I get Gin's accent right. Also I'm not sure if wheat fields are actually taller than kids, corn fields may be a better more realistic choice.**


	3. Chapter 3: Complications and Nightmares

**Writer's Note:**

**Thanks to all the reviews so far~! I'm determined to finish this story - and complete it! There will be Rukia's blind date this chapter - and some Ichigo and Mai interaction! Review if you can! :)**

_**Chapter 3:**__** Complications and Nightmares**_

"Thanks for coming out Renji - especially on such short notice," Jackie smiles, as Renji hands their waiter the bill for their dinner. Jackie invited Renji to dinner, to work on the project for Ukitake-san's friend, and they did get a little off topic, but they ended up getting a lot of the ideas down for the new ad.

"Of course I'd come out - or else I'd be stupid for missing a chance to talk with you. Since we barely talked last week," Renji answers roughly, but Jackie can tell he actually meant for it to be a heartfelt statement. It is the closest thing Jackie's going to get to something romantic coming from Renji's loud mouth. "I thought we already talked about this - and I had no idea you cared about me that much," Jackie responds swiftly taking a sip from her wine glass. Renji chuckles his mouth forming a challenging smirk, "Well, maybe I do care," his tone suggesting something more.

Jackie isn't quite sure whether or not this is classified as teasing between friends, or possible flirting between two people. She decides to go along with it, "Well, if you care so much then you might as well take me out again - on a date."

Jackie instantly regrets saying those words, she has no idea how the word date got thrown out so quickly. Renji seems surprised by her statement, and Jackie's face turns a slight shade of red - realizing Renji probably had no feelings whatsoever for her. She was stupid for even asking him to join her tonight. Of course he has no interest in a boring girl like her -

"Sounds like a great plan - your plans are always spot on anyways Jackie. How bout next weekend sometime?" Renji states, a smile slowly forming on his face, and on the inside he finds Jackie looking quite cute with blush tainting her skin - he could never admit it to her though, or the fact that her body fit in that black dress perfectly he could barely stop his eyes from moving down her dress.

Jackie's eyes seem astonished, and Renji wonders if she was only kidding about the date, thinking he maybe took things too far for one night. Then again, he took things much farther the other time he went out drinking with Jackie, well more specifically when he was drinking, she didn't touch any alcohol. Renji at first was certain he didn't want to remember that night - but as the week passed he realized how much he enjoys talking with Jackie. The revelation that he had hidden feelings for Jackie took awhile to get used to, but seeing her in that dress, with that playful look in her eyes wasn't helping him control his feelings at all. The moment she opened her large red lips, Renji new he was going to set things straight between them, and let her know his true feelings.

He couldn't handle lying to her anymore.

"Renji," Jackie's voice brought Renji out of his thoughts, and his eyes fall onto her brown irises. Her voice is like melting caramel, it's smooth and warm at the same time. It made Renji feel calm and at home for some reason maybe even more at home than Rukia's voice, and he's known her since high school.

"This - whatever this is - we can't do it," Jackie's voice seems confident, but towards the end lost it's certainty, her voice cracking slightly. Her eyes are downcast at the white table cloth, and Renji wishes she'd just look him in the eyes. He doesn't understand why she's being so hard-headed. Jackie whispers so softly Renji would've missed it if he didn't block out everyone else in the room, "I'm sorry."

The next thing Renji knew, Jackie abruptly stands up and Renji says, "Wait a minute, Jackie - we should" - but she shakes her head repeating an apology to the man in front of her, her eyes are still looking at anything but the red-haired man she's grown close to - the man who knew everything about her.

Renji is frustrated with Jackie's apologies, since she's much stronger than this - he knows she is. She quickly leaves the table and Renji calls after her immediately, "Wait!" as he grabs his jacket from his chair, and pushes past a waiter almost knocking them over to catch up to the woman he's possibly in love with. All he wanted was to find out whether they did care for each other, to just give it an actual chance.

Renji knows deep down in his heart that Jackie wants to take the chance too - she's just too afraid and feels guilty because she doesn't want to ruin anything that they have now. But what they have now, is it really just a friendship? Was being excited to make her laugh, and hoping to run into her whenever he went out really just a friendship? Was thinking of how pretty she is and wondering if they could ever be something more really friendship?

Renji opens the entrance to the restaurant's door, nearly running into a few people trying to get in. He sees Jackie walking quickly ahead, and catches up with her walking by her side. "Jackie, listen, we should talk this over," Renji suggests but is declined immediately, "There's nothing to talk about - I already told you I" -

Renji growls angrily at Jackie interrupting her sentence by grabbing her arms and turning her to face him. Jackie's eyes stray away from Renji's searching eyes and Renji's hands instinctively tighten around Jackie's upper arms. "You're not looking me in the eye Jackie. Just tell me the truth. You can't just wave off the possibility just because you're afraid."

"I'm not afraid!" Jackie shouts back at him loudly, her eyes glaring at him as she pushes the man away.

"Then why aren't you giving us a chance?!" Renji explodes, his voice seeming impatient with her, his eyes seem slightly hurt though and Jackie's heart aches just seeing him like this. She opens her mouth to respond but nothing seems to come to her head - she can't admit to him that she's worried about their friendship - or what other people thought at work, or how unprofessional it was. Renji wouldn't give up - she knew that better than anyone.

Renji speaks softly, his fists clenching by his sides and his face looking towards the ground, "If you don't want to talk about it then fine - just don't come crying to me when you realize that we're worth it."

Before Jackie can answer him, the tall man walks past her and Jackie instinctively knows she should grab him and stop him before he goes, that this is the one chance she has to make things right, to clear it all up. But she retracts her right hand from reaching out to him, and put her left hand over her right hand, physically stopping herself from reaching him.

Jackie stands in the busy sidewalk, watching Renji's tall figure disappear into the crowd around her. She regrets everything she said to Renji - but she knows that wasn't true. She didn't regret asking him to take her on a date, no matter how many times she tells herself it was wrong she can't regret it. Jackie finds herself wanting to cry but she isn't quite sure why, her feelings aren't the ones who got hurt - she hurt Renji's feelings.

Maybe that's all it took to let the tears begin falling.

(^.^)

Rangiku gives Rukia an encouraging smile before Rukia closes her door, and begins walking into the fancy high end restaurant. Rukia concludes that no regular person would come to this place unless they were rich - she hopes the date wouldn't take too long, she promised Rangiku no more than an hour; she secretly hopes it takes only thirty minutes. Ever since her older sister started setting up these horrible blind dates to get Rukia into the dating scene, she's met snobby obnoxious men who brag about their successful lives and stare at her as if she's some sort of prize to be won.

She couldn't blame them - almost everyone knew of her successful brother-in-law, being with her would provide a million connections for their companies, it's no wonder they looked at her that way. Rukia just wishes she could somehow change her name, so that people would stop associating her with her brother-in-law, she barely ever even spoke with him - and when she did it meant a scolding or an interrogation about every little thing she does. He's a nitpicker, if Rukia slips up ever so slightly, Byakuya would be the first to know and in no time, Rukia would be honoured with a call from him when she arrived home.

Rukia takes a large breath to mentally prepare herself as she walks towards the hostess at the restaurant's entrance. "Welcome to Narisawa, do you have a reservation?" the bright hostess asks her smile very welcoming towards Rukia. Rukia gives the woman a smile and replies, "Yes, a reservation under Hisana Kuchiki."

"Ah, yes of course, Kuchiki-san, your table is ready for you. Your waitress, Harribel will take you to your table," the hostess motions towards the waitress named Harribel who has bright blonde hair that stands out against the others in the room. Harribel begins walking Rukia to her table and Rukia follows, becoming nervous immediately. She's still wearing her work clothes, and she's pretty sure her hair is a complete mess, and that she probably smells bad since she hasn't used any deodorant since the morning. She tries placing some hair behind her ear in order to help in some way - but doing so provides no comfort to the small woman.

Harribel stops in front of a table for two, and Rukia sees that the man sitting there has black ebony hair like hers. The man realizes Rukia has arrived once Harribel motions her head towards me. The man stands as Rukia finally makes her way to the table. He turns to face her, a small smile forming on his oval face, and Rukia is immediately drawn to the man's aqua green eyes, he is also very much taller than Rukia, she finds her neck stretching to actually get a look at the man she's going to have a date with.

"Hello, Rukia-san, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Hisana-san talks a lot about you," the man says, whilst stretching his hand out awaiting Rukia to return the handshake. Rukia notices that the man is incredibly handsome - she isn't surprised since most of the men Hisana set her up with were practically models, but the air around this man seems different. She hopes this date won't be as excruciating as the others. Rukia shakes the man's hand and allows a smile to fall onto her pink lips, "The same for me. Hisana does that a lot - it gets out of hand sometimes, so I apologize if she's a handful."

"Ah, it's fine, Rukia-san. I'm Kaien Shiba by the way - forgot to tell you," he says while scratching the back of his head and smiling down at her. Rukia thinks the man is kind of strange, but funny at the same time. She sits down, and Kaien seems like he's about to help her into her seat until he realizes she's already seated down. He chuckles awkwardly before sitting in his seat.

The two decide to order their drinks and food so that they get their dinner sooner. Once Harribel leaves, Rukia takes a small sip from her glass of water. "So, how much convincing did your sister do for you to accept the date?" Kaien questions nonchalantly, and Rukia almost spits her water out of her mouth in pure astonishment. She stops herself and just swallows the water, before saying, "What? How did you" -

"Im not stupid, Rukia-san, I can tell you don't want to be here."

Rukia sighs and looks away from the man who generally seems nice, she feels bad for not giving him a chance but going on this date just felt so - unnatural, it's not like they decided this by having some natural attraction. Hisana just picked him from a bunch of single men who work near Byakuya's large company. Rukia looks up and raises her eyebrow, "Are you always this straightforward on dates?"

"Yes - I guess you could say that," he laughs at her comment, tilting his head slightly and Rukia laughs as well. She notices the man doesn't seem quite comfortable as well and Rukia comes to a realization, "So, who's the girl?"

"Huh? What girl?"

"The girl you're in love with - or dating - or are" -

"Okay! Okay, I get it! Well, I've been seeing this one girl, but my sister, Kukkaku keeps pestering me like your sister, to find a successful woman, like you. So that's why I'm here," Kaien explains, his eyes losing the happiness in them from before. Rukia felt bad for the man and she smiles to Kaien and states, "Tell me about her - I'd love to hear about you guys. Maybe I can even help you out!"

Kaien's dull eyes brighten and they lock onto Rukia's seeming much more thrilled to be talking about this woman. Rukia can't help herself from feeling disappointed that this man was taken - he wasn't anything like the others; he didn't care about success or money or even who Rukia's related to, he cares about a person's character. Rukia likes this about Kaien, she wishes that he gets a happily ever after with this woman - at least then someone while have their happy ending come true. And this time it won't be some fairy tale - it'll be a real life happily ever after.

(^.^)

Rangiku cusses for the millionth time at her phone, dying again on the stupid game she's playing. She throws the device into the cup holder, fed up with it, and decides to just look out the window and hope this endless waiting will be finished soon. She may be unlucky and have to wait the one time Rukia meets a guy she can actually see herself being with. But knowing how picky Rukia could be at times - she seriously doubts it should take too long. Rangiku is always a very impatient person, the bad quality never seems to go away; as a kid her Father would always tell her she should learn to become more patient. Boy did she need that right now - the wait for Rukia was absolutely killing her right now. She needs a distraction, something, anything that can-

Rangiku's phone vibrates loudly against the cupholder, and Rangiku quickly turns her head towards the phone, seeing the caller ID written across the screen, the phone vibrating again. The phone has the last person in the world Rangiku wants to talk with - Gin Ichimaru. She instantly decides to ignore the man, since he's always ignoring her - but she then realizes that she'll have to do nothing but stare at the boring sidewalk for who knows how much longer.

She quickly grabs the phone and slides to answer the call, saying seriously, "Hello, Gin," not sounding too happy to be talking with the man. She wants to make it clear that Gin can't get away with everything all the time - that there can be consequences for his actions.

"Rangiku I" - but Gin immediately coughs loudly into the phone before he can finish his sentence. Rangiku wonders if someone has taken the phone but Gin's voice is still heard from the phone, "I'm sorry - all weekend I was sick, I could barely even get out of bed." Gin begins coughing again, and it sounds like he's seriously ill. Rangiku forgets about her anger to the man and her voice fills with worry, "Are you alright? Where are you anyways? You better be having soup at home!"

"I'm fine Ran-chan, don't worry about me like that, okay?" Gin says softly, but his voice sounds hoarse and cracks throughout his reassurance. Rangiku forgot how soft Gin's voice turns when they used to talk in her room late at night when she was young, she also missed her old nickname that Gin always called her. She didn't realize how much she missed hearing his voice till now.

"Your not fine, I mean" -

"Oooo Gin's on the phone with his girlfriend~! How kawaii~!" a high pitched woman's voice exclaims, and Rangiku cringes at the loud voice since she's still recovering from drinking so much alcohol. Rangiku then becomes angry thinking Gin is somehow playing with her, and saying that he's sick when he's actually fooling around with some girl.

"Mashiro-san, quiet down, the customers will-" Gin begins saying but is interrupted by another woman's voice, "Gin, I had no idea you have a girlfriend - tell me who~!" Gin sighs loudly against the phone, and Rangiku wonders where the hell Gin could be.

"We're not dating, we're" - but Gin is interrupted once again, and Rangiku can hear shuffling near the phone's speaker, and it's when she hears one of the woman's voices that Rangiku figures that Gin's cellphone was taken from his hands.

"Hello, Gin's totally not girlfriend, but causes Gin to whisper sweet nothings during work~! It' s a pleasure to meet you - I'm Riruka!" Riruka giggles towards the end, and Rangiku finds herself blushing deeply, but laughs at the hilarity of Gin in the background yelling at Riruka to give his phone back. It's only when Gin begins coughing loudly, sounding extremely ill that Riruka gives the cellphone back to the sick man. Afterwards, she hears Gin's footsteps as he walks to another more quiet room.

"Sorry about that," Gin says quickly, and Rangiku wonders whether he's apologizing about their conversation being interrupted or about not meeting up with her last night.

"It's fine. Why are you at work anyways? - You're sick Gin!" Rangiku scolds him as if he was still that 6 year old boy she met in those wheat fields.

Gin coughs before answering his voice cracking, "I have to - but I promised Riruka-san I'd leave early, the real question is what are you up to?"

"At the moment I'm stranded in my friend's car, waiting for her to be done with her hot date. I was drinking, so I can't go home yet - at least with her still on this date," Rangiku explains trying to sound less whiny than inside her head, she didn't end up succeeding.

"I'm coming now," Gin states firmly, sounding sure of himself.

"NO! I'm fine, you should go home and rest, I'll just wait!" Rangiku protests, but finds herself wanting Gin to not listen to her and still come to pick her up.

"Ran-chan, I know how bored you get when you wait around doing nothing. You're worse than a two year old."

"Am not!" Rangiku exclaims.

"You're acting like one right now! I'm coming Rangiku - you can't stop me," Gin states and he sounds desperate, as if driving her home was his only option to stay alive - he sounded that worked up about it. And Rangiku couldn't say no to that voice, she knew it cause Gin rarely uses that voice - she's heard it only in certain moments and she'd rather not remember those times right now.

"Okay Gin, I'm at the Narisawa restaurant. Let me just tell Rukia about you coming though."

"Gotcha, call me when you're done telling her," Gin replies quickly and before she new it Rangiku is texting Rukia to call her as soon as possible.

(^.^)

"Miyako is really smart and funny, and doesn't treat me like some stuck up rich guy. She works hard too - she went up the ranks despite being poor when she grew up. She has so many great ideas to help people who have families that are struggling. She's just so perfect and beautiful - sometimes I think she may too good for me," Kaien remarks sheepishly, and Rukia giggles, "You may be right!" Kaien glares at her slightly before taking a bite of a cut piece of medium rare steak. Rukia notices that her phone is vibrating in her pocket and she decides to head to the ladies room to check if Rangiku was okay since it's been thirty minutes already.

"Excuse me, I'm going to the ladies room - I'll be back," Rukia notifies Kaien.

"This isn't the part where you sneak out from the bathroom window to ditch me, right?" Kaien jokes his grin widening at the small raven haired woman.

"Please, a Kuchiki would never bail like that. I would tell you face to face that I was leaving before I left."

"You Kuchiki's and your direct ways, you're a lot like Byakuya-san you know."

Rukia rolls her eyes at the chuckling man and heads over to the ladies room, thanks to Harribel's direction of course, or else she'd be lost in this large establishment. She quickly opens the washroom door, and pulls out her cellphone from her suit pants pocket. After unlocking the screen she notices the text from Rangiku and dials her friend's number. After the first ring Rangiku answers the call saying, "Hello, Rukia~!"

"Rangiku, is something wrong?" Rukia questions her tone seeming worried.

"No, no! I just wanted to let you know that Gin's going to drive me home, so don't worry about taking me back to my apartment, you can even head to his apartment if you want tonight! I know you need it!" Rangiku teases her voice bright and practically shining in joy. Rukia can tell the woman is grinning ear to ear just by the sound of her friend's voice.

Rukia's worries are even more apparent than before, "Wait, Gin? You mean the same Gin that you told us left you at the bar alone all of yesterday night?"

"He was sick Ruks! He called me a second ago, he sounds horrible - and he's working now too; I know how Gin is, and he's never sick - something must be wrong, I need to make sure he's okay."

"I think the person you should be worrying about more right now is yourself Rangiku!" Rukia retorts her voice extremely serious, not allowing herself to think Gin deserves a second chance with her friend. At the back of her head she knows that Rangiku and him should probably talk - but the man didn't seem trustworthy, she never even met him yet!

"Rukia. Please. I've been waiting to see him for a long time now. I can't keep waiting for him to come find me another time, if I lose this chance he probably won't call me again and disappear!" Rangiku sounds desperate for Rukia's approval, and Rukia knew immediately she lost this battle - but she would put up a little more of a fight so that Rangiku couldn't tell she already gave up.

"But you haven't seen him in years Rangiku, I don't trust him - I can leave and" -

"Relax, I've known Gin for years, plus I've been bored forever in your car, you know how I can't stand waiting. Anyways have fun on your date! Bye~!"

Rangiku ends the call before Rukia can tell her friend to be careful, and to call her if anything happens. Rukia looks in the mirror seeing her messy hair and tired eyes in the reflection. She thinks she should brush through her hair and make herself slightly more presentable but discovers after looking in the mirror that it would be pointless. The man outside is already in love, and she's not a step closer to finding a guy who will actually date her without having some ulterior motive. Rukia gives her reflection a final determined look before leaving the spotless bathroom.

(^.^)

Rangiku calls Gin to let him know her friend was okay with it, and Gin told her he was coming right away. Rangiku starts playing the game on her phone in hopes of straying her mind from the man she's known for most of her life. Once she finally makes it to level two on the game she hears a knock from the window next to her and she jumps in her seat since she's so transfixed on the game she forgot where she was. She turns her face towards the window and witnesses Gin's smiling face, a large red scarf wrapped around his neck, with some purple bags under his eyes. Seeing Gin wearing a scarf is strange, he's never complained about the cold but his skin's always freezing cold. It never made much sense to Rangiku when she was younger and it still baffled her to this day. She gives him a small smile of her own, and Gin backs away from her door, so she can open it.

Rangiku opens the door, and closes it behind her. She feels weird since she isn't sure whether to hug Gin and smile brightly just like when they were young or just stay where she is. Gin seems to notice her hesitance but just says, "It's good to see you again Ran-chan." He coughs loudly into his elbow the scarf around his neck blows in the wind. Rangiku states, "Let's get in your car, before I get a cold too."

"It's not just a cold - I actually have a fever and a sour throat. And it's not a car," Gin replies hoarsely through his loud coughs sounding amused with her, as he walks down the sidewalk towards his truck. And it's not just any truck, it's _the truck. _The same old red truck he owned in the countryside, the same truck he owned when he left her that day. As she sat into the old brown leather seat she used to always sit in she felt an overwhelming force of nostalgia. The truck still smelled the same, and looked the same as she remembers. Gin gets into his seat and buckles his seat belt while Rangiku is still looking around the truck, in complete shock.

"Gosh, you know taking a picture would last longer," Gin jokes and Rangiku snorts at him in response, finally settling into her seat. "Well keeping the same old truck is bound to make me interested in whether or not it's exactly as I remembered."

"Well is it?"

"Yes, yes it is. Why do you still have it anyways? I'd think of you to be more of a new car type of guy."

Gin merely starts the truck and begins driving, not even bothering to answer her question. He coughs again but continues driving to the address Rangiku told him. She remembers one of the last times she sat in this seat, when Gin had taken her to prom. Gin had worked hard to actually buy the red truck, and she specifically remembers how happy he was when he showed it to her. She had been surprised when Gin asked her to prom, she never expected it since it was the summer of grade eleven and the two had been talking as per usual. Rangiku was rambling on about this guy she loathed at school, when Gin suddenly asked her to go to prom with him.

She nearly fell over in pure shock. Many girls wished for Gin to take them to prom - they thought he was mysterious and hadn't witnessed what Gin's eyes appeared like. Rangiku remembers the moment clearly because Gin's blue irises were lighting against the sun in the sky, and when she nearly fell, he laughed but his blue eyes were still seen - the corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed. In that moment Rangiku's breath was caught in her throat - she'd imagined Gin would ask her to prom, but she thought it was only a silly dream. She said yes to him in heartbeat, not faltering in an way when she looked back at him. She didn't know whether Gin asked her during summer so that no other guys could ask her, or if he just couldn't stop thinking about how he'd ask her.

During the school year many boys asked her, but she told them all she was already going with someone else - she didn't tell them who since she said it was a surprise. She didn't even think Gin wanted to go to prom - it isn't that he didn't like socializing, in fact they had many good friends in their school that Gin new just how to tease and get on their nerves. But Gin was never the type of guy who danced to anything - Rangiku was the complete opposite she loved to dance and party with her classmates. She'd think he didn't want to sit around at the table and be bored all night. But Gin always did many things for her - it made her wonder if she never did anything for him. Was that why he had left? She turns her head to the man who's been bringing back these nostalgic memories into her thoughts, and his face does look slightly more coloured than his usual pale grey skin.

She almost forgot how quiet Gin got when he drove, the familiar silence made Rangiku feel like no time had passed between them. As she looks out the window she remembers the time when Gin first acted in such silence and spoke this softly to her.

_"Daddy, where exactly does Gin live?" Rangiku asks eagerly. She wants to find out more about this mysterious boy who saved her from being lost. Her father looks up from his newspaper, his eggs and bacon still untouched on his plate. Rangiku is simply having cereal with her various different ingredients added in - her father says she doesn't have good taste buds but Rangiku likes to think she's just creative. "Hm. Well he did head into the direction where the Honda family lives," her Father ponders out loud while scratching the stubble forming on his chin. Rangiku bursts loudly, "The Honda's?! Our next door neighbors?!"_

_Her Father chuckles as Rangiku slams her hands down onto the wooden table in pure surprise. He ruffles her strawberry blonde hair, "Yes, our neighbors."_

_"But I've never seen Gin," Rangiku reasons sounding deflated once realizing that she may never see him again since he probably doesn't even live there. They visit the Honda's house at least once a week, her Father often helps them out with their livestock, they have six kids in total and none of them are her age. Rangiku surely would've noticed Gin with his strange appearance and all._

_"Well, tonight we're eating with them anyways - so I'll ask about Gin during dinner, okay?" her dad encourages his daughter, he notices that Rangiku has seemed very glum as of late. She normally hides her worries behind her bright smile, but her Father can definitely tell she's been lonely without having any friends around. This Gin Ichimaru boy seems to be a kid who can be a good friend for Rangiku - he just hopes that the boy is easy to find._

_..._

_Rangiku and her Father walked to the Honda's place since they were about a five minute walk away from their farm. Her father decides to bring them some banana cake they made during the day, he had to stop her from adding any extra ingredients throughout the process. Rangiku isn't too thrilled to be visiting the Honda's, none of the children talk with her since most of them are either way older or younger than her. She isn't quite sure who to talk to the older kids or the younger ones. She's always stuck in the middle of things. Not to mention how the children's father, Honda-san is very loud and kind of scares Rangiku at times. She's never heard him lower his voice, and he also talks with food in his mouth all the time._

_Once arriving into the Honda's warm home, greetings are said, and Rangiku is forced to hug all of the kids because the Honda's are always very friendly and love to hug anyone they meet. "Come in, come in!" Honda-san says and his wife is smiling intently at her children as they make their way to the large dinner table. The dinner table is so long it's no problem to fit Rangiku and her Father at the wooden table. The eromas of many different foods fill Rangiku's nose, and all of the kids end up grabbing their food, some bickering as to who gets what first. Their mother doesn't scold them and just feeds the baby who's only a few months old sitting in it's high chair. Honda-san talks loudly to Rangiku's Father and Rangiku decides to just start eating, hoping that her Father remembers to ask about Gin by the time dinners finished._

_Towards the end of the dinner Rangiku feels full, she fails to talk with any of the other kids who are all busy talking among themselves to pay her any mind. She hears her Father say, "Oh, Honda-san I almost forgot to ask you - do you know a kid named Gin Ichimaru?"_

_The whole dinner table turns silent, everyone's heads turning to Rangiku's Father. Rangiku glances at everyone's astonished faces, some of the kids even whispering amongst themselves. "Ah, children how bout you all go play outside, before the sun goes down for the night," the wife commands the children and almost instantly the children get up from their seats and head outside. Rangiku isn't sure whether she should join them, but decides to just pretend to be still eating and listen to the conversation. _

_"Gin Ichimaru? How do you know him?" Honda-san asks seriously, sounding slightly angered at the mention of the boy's name. "Well, my Rangiku-chan got lost in the fields and Gin brought her back home safely - I'd like to thank him again, I owe him for saving my daughter's life," Matsumoto-san explains, and Rangiku glances at her Father's face who seems curious to know what exactly is going on here. _

_"That runt? Well, if you really want to know, we adopted him - he's not worth your time!" Honda-san shouts loudly, and Rangiku nearly drops her fork from being startled. She feels an overwhelming amount of anger towards him for talking about Gin that way, she's about to yell at the man when her Father responds kindly, "Ah, but I'd love to meet him, come on Honda-san." She does remember her Father telling her to kill people with kindness - now she understand what he meant by that._

_"Fine - his room's in the barn," Honda-san agrees, and leaves his wife and newborn baby to take Matsumoto-san and Rangiku to see Gin again. Rangiku hasn't spoke with the boy since she fell asleep on his back when he'd rescued her. She needs to talk with him again and ask him why the Honda's keep him in the barn. Does he always not eat with them for dinner and only get leftovers? Why do they not let Gin meet anyone?_

_Rangiku and her father finally make their way into the barn, Rangiku immediately searches the room for any sight of the silver haired boy. "He's up this ladder," Honda-san states sourly. Rangiku looks up and notices that there is a small loft above all of the animal pens in the barn containing pigs, goats, and horses. Her father goes up the ladder after Honda-san, and Rangiku waits a few seconds before latching her smalls hands onto the wooden ladder. She finds it extremely cool for Gin to get to climb a ladder to his room everyday, it's like some secret kind of clubhouse. _

_Her wonderful image of his hideout is ruined when Rangiku lays her pale blue eyes on the sight in front of her. The wooden planks were old and dusty, and there is barely any light in the room if it weren't for the small lightbulb with a string dangling beside it to turn it on and off. The worst part is how Gin didn't even have a dresser or a bookshelf, or a desk or any furniture at all - his bed is literally a pile of hay with one lonely white bed sheet. Rangiku finally steps onto Gin's so called 'room' and she still can't grasp how it's possible to live in this horrible place. Where does he keep his clothing? Is this why Gin's clothing had holes in them and why his shoes were practically falling off his feet? Gin seems to be just sitting on the pile of hay - his bed - and staring at the wall when they walk in, but when hearing Honda-san's large feet creaking on the wooden planks he turns his head, his eyes still closed tightly. _

_He's frowning, which is strange since the boy seems more like a happy type of person - not a sad one. She couldn't blame him though, she can't imagine living in this horrid place, he's so far away from everyone, like he's on another planet. How can he call them his family if they put him in here? Maybe Gin didn't call them his family. It doesn't seem like any of them speak to him, or else they would've talked more about him when they asked. Honda-san when speaking of Gin almost sounds disgusted to be mentioning his name - is Gin really that bad a person to deserve this treatment? She doesn't think any young kid could deserve any of this._

_"Gin! Get up ya fool! What're you doing staring at the wall for and greet our guests!" Honda-san nags Gin, and the young boy gets up quickly as if Honda's a ghost, Rangiku notices that Gin's face is dirty and his white shirt has grass stains all over it. "Yes, Honda-san," Gin replies, giving a small smile to her Father. "Thanks again Gin, you and Rangiku should play together sometime. Rangiku's been lonely back at home without anyone to play with, and I'm getting old," Matsumoto-san grins down at Gin, and glances to his daughter. Rangiku pouts and crosses her arms, "I'm not lonely! Just bored Dad!"_

_Her Father chuckles before ruffling his daughter's strawberry locks, and turns his face to Honda-san remarking, "Well, Honda-san, how bout we let these two talk while we go down and talk about business?" Honda-san seems to be thankful to her Father's distraction since he 's avoiding looking even remotely at Gin as if he's some sort of menacing person. Rangiku would've thought Honda-san would be more menacing towards Gin, but he just seems like he feels uncomfortable with him. Isn't he the one who adopted Gin?_

_Rangiku gives a sigh of relief when Honda-san is gone, along with her Father. She never really liked Honda-san, and his reaction to Gin further affirmed that fact. She turns to Gin who's face is turned to the small window with no glass but just a thin screen, Rangiku isn't sure what Gin sees because from where she's standing it's just pitch black out there, she isn't even sure how they'll walk back to the Honda's place without using a flashlight. She heads over towards Gin but she still doesn't see anything out the window, and since Gin didn't say anything she decides to strike up a conversation._

_"Thanks for helping me out - I must've looked like a baby crying like that," Rangiku laughs lightly at the memory of herself, thinking of how incredibly stupid she was. _

_"Nah, babies cry way worse than you did! Though it was a pretty close call!" Gin replies his silver hair flopping with the turn of his face. She's relieved to see his bright smile, and wishes to herself that it never leaves that pale grey face of his. _

_"Can I ask you a weird question, Gin?" Rangiku blurts to Gin, and she wonders why she used Gin's first name rather than his last. It's not like she's known him very long. But the name is so strange she can't stop herself from saying it to herself._

_"Maybe," Gin replies. Rangiku pouts slightly at his response but sighs, "Fine! I was wondering, what happened to your parents, Gin - I if you don't mind" -_

_"Don't ask me that. Don't ask me that ever again," Gin states seriously his voice soft as he sits on the makeshift bed. Rangiku feels guilty for being so rude and is about to reach and grab Gin's hand - it's sitting on his lap, she can easily take it into her sweaty palms - but she doesn't. She retracts her hand and starts talking about her day - and Gin listens to her every word, even responding to her once in awhile. The thing is, you can never ask Gin a question - because asking Gin a question would mean expecting an answer, and Gin doesn't have answers - all he has are questions about you, and anything but himself. Gin doesn't answer questions._

_That's just the way he is._

_..._

_Rangiku finally closes her bedroom door, wanting nothing more but to sleep soundly in her comfy bed, with the large purple and pink quilt her Father recently got for her. She snuggles into the warm quilt, sleep pulling at her mind. But every time her mind falls into the depths of slumber, she finds herself picturing Gin in that barn all alone, with nothing but that thin white sheet to keep him warm. It may be summer but even she wasn't foolish enough to think he'd be warm enough up in that loft. Her attic is cool, and without these multiple bed sheets Rangiku is sure she'd be frozen. _

_She can't take this nagging feeling that Gin needs her from the back of her mind. She decides to go get him and bring him to her room, so he can sleep in her bed. At least then he'd be warm. She'd wake Gin in the morning and he can walk back to his loft before Honda-san knew about any of this. _

_She decides to take action before she begins doubting herself. Before she even realizes that Gin may not agree with her plan, she's already inside the barn, her flashlight in her right hand. Thankfully the watch dog recognized her and didn't bark when she walked into the barn, the dog merely closes it's brown eyes, falling back to sleep. Rangiku suddenly finds herself being envious of the dog being able to sleep so peacefully. Her dog at home was also sound asleep when she snuck out._

_"Gin?" Rangiku whispers, as she nudges the sleeping boy who's eyes are closed, and his legs are curled up against him - probably trying to warm himself up in some way. She wonders how many nights Gin has slept here feeling so cold and alone. It bothers her to the core, and she isn't even sure why. Rangiku hopes to get a glimpse of Gin's irises but the boy just lifts himself up and rubs his closed eyes before she can even see what colour they are. _

_"Rangiku, what are ya doing here?" Gin asks his voice still as soft as she remembers. "You're coming with me," Rangiku commands, any form of doubt leaving her light voice. She grabs his hand, and almost pulls away from his hand immediately due to how astonishingly cold it is. She felt like a thousand needles were pricking onto her hand. She catches herself from letting go, and it's Gin who takes his hand away from her. "My hands are too cold," he explains when Rangiku gives him a confused glance. She grabs his hand again nonetheless, her warm hand already accustomed to his frozen fingers. She hopes her warm hands somehow help him feel slightly warmer, but she seriously doubts that._

_The two make it down the ladder, Rangiku forcing herself to let Gin's hand go in order to go down. Gin follows her afterwards not really understanding what exactly is going on. She takes his hand in hers once again and the two begin to walk towards Rangiku's house. Rangiku leads the way, a flashlight in one hand, and Gin's cold hand in her other. _

_"The moon is so nice tonight," Gin says._

_Rangiku looks up at the sky that is covered in dark clouds. _

_"What do you mean? I don't see it anywhere."_

_"It doesn't matter if you don't see it. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not beautiful. It's a half moon tonight."_

_"Wow, your smart Gin. Your right too - I know my Mom's beautiful and I don't see her either."_

_Gin turns his head to the girl beside him, her eyes still on the sky. Her pale eyes look white in the dark world around them. Gin sees a slight sadness in her happy eyes and he wonders what exactly she's thinking of. _

_The two tiptoe into the house, careful not to wake her Father. Once reaching the attic Rangiku silently closes the door thankful that it didn't creak. Rangiku says, "You can sleep in my bed with me. It'll be like a sleepover! There's no way I'm letting you sleep there every night - at least not until you have a proper bed."_

_Gin is about to protest but knows straight away that Rangiku's determined mind is set - she won't let him leave. He walks to her bed and slips under the sheets, and Rangiku gets in afterwards, the two on opposite sides of Rangiku's small single bed. The room falls into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, sleep tugging at both of their minds._

_"Gin?" Rangiku asks timidly, not sure if the boy is still awake._

_"Yeah?" Gin answers swiftly, to Rangiku's relief._

_"Do you think we can be friends?" Rangiku is facing away from Gin to the right side, while Gin lays on his back, staring at the wooden ceiling. _

_"I thought we already were - I mean what kind of crazy person would bring me here if we weren't friends? It would be weird."_

_"How come I haven't seen you at school before? The Honda's kids go to my school."_

_"I don't go to school. Honda-san gives me work to do during the day. Like today how I took care of the crops."_

_"Then how do you learn? You know, math and science and" -_

_Gin interjects," I don't learn."_

_"Then I'll convince Dad to take you! I know you're smart so it'll be fine!"_

_"You don't have to be so nice,"Gin states seriously, and Rangiku glances to him; he's no longer staring at the ceiling but has turned to face away from Rangiku._

_"I may not have to, but I want to! You deserve it Gin," Rangiku replies her voice becoming soft, and she seriously means what she's telling him, he doesn't know how happy she is that they're friends._

_"Let's just get some sleep," Gin responds, his hands tucking the sheets to his chin._

_ "I'm glad I found you Gin." She whispers to herself more than to Gin - she doesn't know whether Gin heard her; it doesn't really matters anyways._

_..._

_"Rangiku?"_

_"Yes," she turns her body over to look at Gin, and stares at the back of his head wondering what exactly is going through that strange mind of his. They've only slept for an hour or so. _

_"Thank you. For everything."_

_Rangiku blinks her eyes, surprised as to how desperate the boy sounds, his voice is a melancholy of emotions Rangiku doesn't even understand. She smiles and lets out a warm breath that tickles Gin's slightly bare neck, where his silver hair didn't touch his pale skin._

_"You're welcome."_

_..._

_"Gin! Gin! HEY! I SAID WAKE UP!" Rangiku yells at Gin as she shakes the boy for the third time. She wonders why he woke easily in his old bed but when she tries waking him in her bed, he doesn't even bat an eyelash! She thinks he may be able to sleep through an entire explosion if it ever occurred. Gin finally stirs in his sleep before sitting upright and rubbing his tired eyes in such a cute way she compares him to a kitten - he may be even cuter. __"What is it, Ran-chan?"_

_"Ran-chan?" she echoes his statement, her blue eyes appearing confused._

_Gin grins at her cute expression, "It's a new nickname I came up with."_

_"Really?"_

_"Thought of it yesterday when ya left, actually I think it suits ya Ran-chan~!"_

_"I never had a nickname before," Rangiku thinks out loud. She blushes when she realized she actually said her thoughts out loud. _

_"Why are we awake? We can sleep a little longer. Honda-san won't be up until later," Gin says as he glances at Rangiku's bedside clock. Rangiku rubs her forehead, wanting to sleep also. "Fine, fine," before plopping her body back down onto the bed, the mattress bouncing the two of them. Gin plops down beside her and the two giggle as they bounce once again._

_"We're crazy," she remarks._

_"At least we're crazy together."_

Rangiku snaps back from her memory when Gin arrives into her apartment building's large parking lot. "Here we are," Gin announces, and she can tell even by not looking at him he has a large grin on his face. But the smile is short-lived when Rangiku hears a fit of coughing escape from his throat. Rangiku realizes she spent the whole drive to her apartment thinking of the past, when she should of been talking with Gin like she told herself she would. She's still not used to seeing the man she's staring at here. It's strange to think she only thought of Gin to be part of the past life when now he's suddenly part of her present life, and maybe even her future. She wasn't used to living in the present; to her she's always been stuck in the past - and having Gin here didn't change a thing.

She mentally forces herself to invite him into her apartment, just to talk with him. She knows Gin wouldn't try anything on her, plus the poor man is getting red cheeks, his fever has probably gotten worse. She shouldn't have let him drive her home. She can at least let him rest a little and give him some medicine.

"You should come in and rest for a little bit," Rangiku says her face looking worried. Despite Gin missing Rangiku's worried face, he declines, "I can't come in - I'd be a bother and" -

"Gin! Don't be stubborn, you can't drive looking like that! You'll fall asleep and get in an accident, or close your eyes for a moment and run someone over!" Rangiku scolds him as if he's still the same boy she grew up with. Some things never change - like the fact that Gin doesn't like relying on anyone. He was always like this when they first met. Gin recognizes Rangiku's set jaw, with her furrowed thin eyebrows and knows that the woman in front of him wearing a gorgeous black skirt and white blouse has already got her mind wrapped around him staying. And there's no swaying of Rangiku's mind - he's learned this long ago.

He unbuckles his seat belt with a sigh, and hangs his head in defeat. Rangiku screams,"YES! Rangiku 150 - Gin still at a measly 0!"

Gin opens his door, and gets out of the old truck a grin spreading onto his lips. "Oh, you kept count?" he teases, "You actually remembered our scores?"

Rangiku is out of the truck now, and she blushes at Gin's teasing, "So, what if I remember? We're best friends, remember?"

Gin walks past her, looking incredibly handsome in his black dress pants and matching black button up shirt and tie. He whispers into her ear as he passes, "It's actually Gin 1 and Rangiku 150."

Rangiku rolls her eyes, and remembers the one time where Gin actually swayed Rangiku; at prom night. She had refused to get into the truck that day since Gin hadn't said anything nice to her. He'd convinced her to get in, and that was the only time Rangiku admitted defeat, he'd teased her so much she couldn't come up with any come backs or even look him in his electric blue eyes.

The two friends make their way to Rangiku's apartment, Rangiku asks about Gin's new managing job and before they know it, they are walking into Rangiku's small living room. Rangiku notices Gin's flushed cheeks from his fever, and tells him to lie down already. Gin obliges, and Rangiku doesn't even bother counting this as a point for her - Gin is out of his normal habits at the moment so she doesn't count any points right now.

"Your apartment is nice Ran-chan, not as nice as mine though. I'd think you'd have a more expensive place," Gin says and Rangiku hears his voice all the way in the bathroom, as she rifles through the medicine cabinet.

She yells, "Yeah, and what's that supposed to mean? You know I'm not as high maintenance as you think!"

"Says the woman who didn't want to be seen in sweatpants in public!"

She laughs at his joke and heads into the kitchen to get a glass of water for the pill for Gin. She'd make some soup for him too, it would probably make him feel better. "No one looks good in sweatpants, okay! Except maybe guys - but even then it's a stretch!"

"Anyways enough about that - I'm making you soup!" Rangiku announces joyfully, opening one of the cabinets to find some canned soup.

Gin nearly falls off the couch in horror, "No, no! I'm fine!" but he begins coughing once again and Rangiku scolds him, "Tsk, tsk, I'm not going to add anything into it."

"Sure you won't," Gin says sarcastically.

Rangiku decides to do the soup later after some convincing, and fills a cup of water for Gin to have to take the pill. Rangiku heads back to the couch and places the glass of water onto the coffee table. "Here you go, just take this pill and" - Rangiku stops talking when she witnesses Gin fast asleep on the couch his right arm angled over his head. She silently laughs at Gin's funny sleeping position and rolls her eyes at how much Gin needs his sleep. The man works too hard, and doesn't leave himself any time to relax or rest. She combs her fingers through his silky silver locks, and finds herself loving Gin's soft expression when he sleeps. It's the most relaxed he ever is - brushing her fingers through his hair makes her realize that the hole Gin's left in her heart is still there - she wonders if their relationship can even be repaired. Or are the pieces shattered so small that they can never be glued back together again?

She sighs remembering that Gin almost cannot be woken up without screaming loudly in his ear for a couple of minutes - doing it will be such a pain. But letting him sleep in her apartment for a few hours won't be too bad for him, she'll sit on the carpet in front of the couch, and watch some T.V. - it's not like Gin would wake up from the noise anyways.

(^3^)

Ichigo lets out an irritated scowl as Hiyori opens her front door. Her parents are rarely ever home so babysitting this late for a job is fine for Hiyori. Ichigo wonders how Hiyori can even cook any meals for his daughter since she's only seventeen - he suspects the girl may be sneaking his daughter fast food for her dinners. Ichigo never gets her any fast food - since it's pretty expensive, so he decides to let Hiyori do what she wants. Mai deserves to experience McDonald's - he knows when he was a kid he worshiped that place. He wants Mai to have a great childhood, one that will be forever remembered to be something his daughter enjoyed; he doesn't want her to think that her childhood wasn't great.

"Oh, it's you," Hiyori states in monotone, her yellow eyes appearing unamused by Ichigo's presence.

"Who else would it be this late at night?!" Ichigo asks incredulously but also slightly suspicious - did she invite her boyfriend over when his daughter was here?

"Whatever carrot top - yer kids fine. MAI! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!"

Ichigo face palms at Hiyori's yelling and wonders why he even lets the seventeen year old take care of his only daughter. "Oh ya, she's asleep - I forgot! Silly me!" Hiyori knocks her own forehead in response to her own stupidity. Ichigo decides its about time he lets himself in. He follows Hiyori into the living room, ignoring her babbling because he knows its not worth listening to. The T.V is still on a kids cartoon channel, and Ichigo sees Mai's curled up small body at the right end of the couch, her orange hair tangled in a mess over her face. She tends to get her hair tangled into knots every morning - her wavy hair got tangled fairly easily. If it weren't for Ichigo's good brushing skills they'd be stuck with an ape's hair by now.

Ichigo quietly walks to his daughter and pulls the hair away from her face, smiling intently down at her he can't help but smile at his daughter - she looks incredibly cute while sleeping. He sometimes wishes Mai could never grow up so it can always be like this. "She fell asleep the minute she set her head down - happens every time. Wish I could sleep as fast as her," Hiyori whispers to Ichigo, careful not to wake Mai. Ichigo's slightly surprised by Hiyori's kindness, but just gives the teen a thankful smile, "Me too."

He carries his daughter to the front door, holding her bridal style, and she curls up into his warm chest. He gives Hiyori a final silent wave before making his way to his blue truck. He opens the passenger door with one hand, holding his light daughter in his other arm who cuddles into his shoulder and mumbles to herself in her sleep. Ichigo carefully places her in her booster seat and buckles her seat belt. He pushes a few stray orange bangs away from her face and then closes her door. He hurries over to his side, opens his door, quickly getting into his seat and begins driving back to their apartment. It's silent for a couple of minutes and Ichigo catches himself from falling asleep while driving twice.

"Daddy?" Mai wakes up, her ebony lashes fluttering open.

"I thought you were asleep." He glances his amber eyes over to his small daughter; she looks sleepy, and there are light purple bags under her eyes.

"I'm not asleep - I was only pretending!" Mai pouts, and Ichigo chuckles at his daughter's white lie - he can tell she's lying by the sound of her voice.

"I have a present for you, but you have to wait till we get home." Ichigo grins when he sees Mai's light green eyes light up brightly.

Mai's excited and grabs Ichigo's arm, "Dad, you're the best!" She's bouncing in her seat and her smile grows even larger.

"Woah, don't grab my arm like that! I'm driving! Do you want to get us in an accident?"

"But Daddy, you're the best driver in the world!"

"Even if I am the best driver - which I am of course, I am the best Dad," Ichigo jokes and pauses his sentence waiting for Mai to laugh. And she does laugh loudly at her Father before Ichigo finishes, "Everyone can make mistakes - even me."

Mai stops her giggles and looks up at her Father proudly, "Yeah, your right! Hiyori made a mistake and gave me McDonald's today!" Ichigo laughs with his daughter, and the two burst into a fit of laughter, Ichigo imagining Hiyori failing to make Mai a dinner and Mai remembering Hiyori causing the fire alarm to go off.

The two finally get into the apartment, Ichigo holding a large box that he had wrapped for her at the toy store. Mai is jumping and squealing around the small apartment, wanting to rip open the gift immediately. Ichigo decided to buy her this gift since he'd be making some extra money this week, so he has some money to spare to buy Mai something that she can use. He also had another present in a plastic bag for her, he's just as excited as her to see her face. She often gets bored in the apartment since she only has a few stuffed toys to play with and their old T.V only has the news channel on it.

"Oh, can I open it!?" Mai asks loudly, her voice practically screaming in delight. Ichigo kicks the door closed, and drops the large box gently onto the ground, before turning to lock the door. Mai jumps around Ichigo and pulls at his pants, "Come on! Let's open it!" Ichigo smiles down to her and gives her the plastic bag to open first. He plops down onto the old couch and watches as his daughter curiously open the bag. She gasps loudly and Ichigo's grin widens when she pulls out her gift and squeals in amazement. He got her a Chappy the Rabbit small playhouse set - she loves the show though she never watches it at the apartment she watches it at the preschool when they sometimes play VHS tapes. Ichigo sometimes buys DVDs on sale for her since they did have a DVD player but it was rare since Chappy's so popular amongst kids. Ichigo still doesn't understand it, but as a kid he did love watching cheesy shows too so he doesn't judge her for her choice in her favourite show.

"Thank you, thank you! I love it!" Mai yells and she jumps up and down twirling around while holding the small box containing the dollhouse.

"Now open the big one!" Ichigo encourages her, and she drops the dollhouse box and sprints towards the giant wrapped box. She begins ripping off the wrapping paper, and in the midst of it she screams, "A desk?! You got me a desk?"

Ichigo laughs at her reaction, and sees her running towards him, and he opens up his arms to pick her up, but Mai jumps up and hugs her Father tightly before he even attempted to pick her up. Ichigo smiles and hears her thanking him into his chest, she kicks her legs in joy wildly and Ichigo thinks to himself that he never wants this moment to end. Having her in his arms was just what he needed after a whole day of work. Ichigo tickles her wildly and kisses her face and the only sound heard from their apartment is Mai's squeals and their loud laughter bouncing off the walls in the quiet apartment building.

...

"Ichigo stop being a sour puss and drink already - just like old times," a blonde woman states playfully, while caressing his shoulder and leaning towards his face. Ichigo wonders why he's standing here in front of this woman for a moment, but the confusion passes once anger overwhelms his entire being. His fists shake, "What the fuck are you doing Naomi? You're supposed to be in my dorm room!"

"Please - don't be stupid if I remember correctly you were the one who used to always drink and party here too," she replies smugly with a teasing wink. This is the woman he loves, the woman he'd fallen for since the time he first kissed her at that party. He thought she'd be different than the others - she's smart he knows she is. She wastes it all for something like partying and getting high.

One of Ichigo's friends, Grimmjow pats him on the shoulder, "Come on man - calm down you're ruining the mood!" with a large grin extending across his face.

"Naomi, can we please talk somewhere - privately?" Ichigo seethes, his teeth grinding in pure impatience. She's drinking, smoking and partying when he knows she shouldn't be. Ichigo's had enough of this, he can't just stand by and watch this anymore.

"No, whatever you have to say, you can say it here in front of my friends," she grins almost daring him to continue in front of his friends. Ichigo's confidence deflates and he avoids Naomi's piercing gaze. Grimmjow shakes his shoulder, "Hey, man, what's wrong?" Ichigo knows Grimmjow's worried but he can't tell him so he shoves Grimmjow's hand off him and mutters, "This has nothing to do with you."

Grimmjow growls, "Fine, then fuck you - I'm not even bothering to help anymore! And by the way, you deserve better than a girl like her!" his blue eyes filling with resentment towards them, and Ichigo knows Grimmjow is angry with him for not telling him anything.

Naomi rolls her beautiful eyes at Grimmjow who grins widely almost encouraging her to disagree with him, but Naomi knows it'll only provoke the wild blue haired man so she stays silent. Ichigo decides this is the perfect opportunity to take Naomi back home. Ichigo grabs Naomi's small hand and pulls her with him, gripping it so hard no matter how much she pulls he still has his large hand gripping onto hers. She yells at Ichigo, and screams in his ears but he doesn't care - he has to get her to stop doing this to herself - doing this to them. She can't get rid of the baby - not with Ichigo pulling it back to safety. He doesn't know what the gender it is, and it doesn't matter he won't let her hurt it anymore.

"This baby is _not_ going to be born - _ever_ Ichigo. When will your small brain finally wrap around the idea that I'm not having it!" she screeches, and Ichigo doesn't stop - he keeps going. He doesn't listen to her loud screams or her pleads. He wasn't going to let her end someone's life for her own personal gain.

Ichigo gasps loudly, breathing heavily, his eyes blinking rapidly and seeing the ceiling of his apartment staring back at him. He's covered in sweat, and he finds himself struggling to breath from that nightmare. _That's strange I've never dreamed about something that's actually happened_ he thinks to himself, and sits upright on the medium sized bed. His tired eyes glance to the clock that read 3:00 AM and he groans, not wanting to close his eyes again after witnessing his girlfriend's face.

He doesn't want to remember those horrible days, so he turns onto his side, getting under the sheet once again. He stares at Mai who's sleeping soundly beside him, and he plays with her orange locks covering her until he finds her pale face. He smiles at seeing her mouth slightly ajar, breathing rhythmically in a deep slumber. Seeing her sleeping form eases his worries from thinking he was back to his past life before Mai was even born. It scares him to think about it, and Ichigo's eyelids soon become heavy as he rests his hand onto her pink cheek.

He falls asleep with his hand still lying there, her breaths even to the sound of his heart.

**Writer's Note:**

**Boy was that long - I'm sorry I just had loads of ideas for this chapter! So sorry if it seems overwhelmingly long to you! if you want you can read parts of it at a time instead of all at once - I know I do that sometimes. Sorry Ichigo and Rukia didn't meet yet - I planned that they will meet in chapter 4, so get ready! Anyways let me know what you think - did you suspect that Kaien would be Rukia's date? I'm guessing it was a surprise! :D And YES, I did another Gin and Rangiku flashback because I just had to ^.^ if you don't like then don't read! I usually update every Saturday but this week's been hectic so I apologize for the late update!**


	4. Chapter 4: First Meetings

**Writer's Note:**

**Thanks for all the reviews, faves, and follows~! I really appreciate the feedback I get from you guys! :) I'm glad you guys think it's interesting! I don't want to reveal what happens this chapter too much - so read to find out! :D If your wondering why Mai's mom isn't one of the bleach characters it's because I don't like making bleach characters OOC and make a nice character seem mean or rude when they actually aren't - so that's why she's an OC. ^.^**

_Italics writing: means emphasizing a word, thinking or flashbacks_

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

_**Chapter 4:**__** First Meetings and Movie Passes **_

Gin groans as he rubs his forehead, feeling extremely hot for some reason. His blurry vision flickers at the ceiling, and Gin slowly remembers where he is. He's still lying on Rangiku's leather couch, he wonders what time it is, and his ocean blue eyes move to the digital clock on the T.V. box. He nearly gets up from the shock of the time - it's already 3:00 am. _Was I asleep for that long? _Gin ponders to himself, and he faintly remembers Rangiku getting him medicine, but him closing his eyes and sleeping before actually taking it. Lo and behold the pill and glass of water Rangiku got him were still sitting on the coffee table, and Gin hastily takes the medicine. His throat is aching, and he thinks he can barely talk at the moment. Not to mention how hot he feels.

He realizes why he's so hot when he notices a knitted blanket lying over his legs on the couch. He smiles softly at the warm blanket that smells faintly of Rangiku's perfume - like most of the apartment did. Gin feels like sleeping again but knows he should probably ask Rangiku about it first - he didn't want her to get angry at him for staying the night without even asking for her permission. He's about to get up to find her bedroom, when he notices Rangiku's orange blonde strands of hair and sleeping face lying on the soft carpet in front of the couch and coffee table.

He slowly gets up and bends down to hear Rangiku's soft even breaths as she slept soundly with a smile on her face. She's mumbling something about sweets in her sleep, and he begins moving away some of her tangled hair from her face. He knows she'll be angry in the morning if she looks in the mirror to see a bird's nest in her tangled mess of strawberry blonde hair. His blue eyes drink in every spot where she's placed, and how her left arm is angled upwards, and her entire body is turned to the left. He does this to remember every detail, so that his memory can picture her asleep like this and be glad that Rangiku could sleep soundly like this - and glad that she's safe. He had worried about her - alot - and so much time had passed he'd nearly forgotten the beauty mark under her lip and the exact way her hair always fell when it's long.

Gin snaps back into reality when Rangiku mumbles, "Kira-san, you're being so silly! Come here~!" He frowns at Rangiku, when hearing her mumble some other man's name in her sleep. This is the moment Gin realizes there's no way to repair what they had back then; Rangiku is beautiful, more beautiful than any woman he's ever met - many men would do anything to date her in a heartbeat, including this Kira person. Gin could never be with her - it was out of the question anymore.

He's out of the picture completely now.

He decides to not let himself hear her mumble anything more about this man she's with, or else he'll go crazy not knowing who beat him to Rangiku. Gin shakes his head _he didn't beat me - I had no chance the minute I left her_. Gin slowly places his arms under her, picking her up slowly bridal style. Her head unconsciously snuggles against his chest and Gin wishes he could hold her like this forever - but knows that it's not his place to do so. He walks quietly, making sure not to wake Rangiku's light slumber because he knows she wakes easily in her sleep; unlike him who can never be woken up.

He pushes open the door with his foot, guessing that this was Rangiku's bedroom and hopefully not the bathroom. He's relieved when he sees a large queen sized bed and a small nightstand beside it. He walks over to the side of the bed, his eyes taking in every aspect of her room, and how her desk is filled with so many papers he knows that Rangiku probably never even finishes. She never finishes her work, but always manages to get what she wants in the end. He wishes he could do things like her sometimes and get what he wants with doing the least amount of work. He chuckles at her messy desk, and let's his blue eyes fall once more on the woman he can't seem to forget loving - the one he still loves.

He sometimes wishes he could be open to her about his feelings but knows it would only cause her more problems - and more things to worry about. It's bad enough he ran into her that day, he hadn't meant to see her there, he did hope he'd meet her at the back of his mind while looking into that toy store he went into with her in the past once when they were young crazy kids. It was only unconsciously he thought of running into her there - it was a stupid and careless thought, but when he heard her bright voice asking him if he saw something he liked - he knew immediately it was her; her voice is the only one who can sound that bright and flirt so effortlessly.

He finally forces himself to open the sheet for her and place her into the bed. Rangiku immediately turns to face the other side, her long wavy hair spilling behind her looking like strands of pure gold against the white bed sheet. He pulls the thicker sheets over her turned body, and decides that he should just leave Rangiku despite how sick he feels.

Leaving Rangiku is always what he does best anyways.

"Gin?"

He freezes from the sound of her voice, and wonders if she's just talking in her sleep again. As he turns his head he doesn't see Rangiku still soundly asleep, but the woman is sitting upright, her eyes searching in the dark for him.

He doesn't know what to say, or whether or not he can even speak since his throat is so dry. He manages to croak, "Yes?"

"You're not leaving again Gin - I'm not letting you go. You're sick remember? You need some soup to get that throat less dry," Rangiku scolds him as if he was the immature one and she was the level headed one. Gin is slightly hesitant to answer her, he wants to leave so badly, because it's the only thing he's familiar with doing right now. It's the only thing he knows how to do. Talking with Rangiku and staying with her like this is too perfect to be real, he doesn't deserve her kindness after all he's put her through.

Rangiku hastily gets out of bed and quickly heads towards him, Gin instinctively takes a step away from her, thinking she's coming too close. But Rangiku persists and stops right in front of him, inches away from his face, her sighing against his collarbone since she's not as tall as him, "I'm not letting this happen again - I asked you to come in to talk with you. Not to let you leave me all over again." She sounds desperate and upset - he knows she's upset, he hears a sniffle come from her hidden face and notices her shoulders are shaking as if she'll fall apart in a second.

He knows she's crying immediately and wants to leave even more so than before - he's making Rangiku cry, this is his worst nightmare. She grabs onto his frozen hands, and holds onto them as tightly as she can, squeezing them to reassure herself that he's still there and that he's not leaving any time soon. She mumbles an apology in the midst of her sniffling. Her face is still looking down at her socks, he guesses it's to hide her tears from him.

Gin pulls away from her warm hands that he remembers loving so much, and wraps his arms around her shaking form, "I'm so sorry Rangiku," he whispers softly his voice cracking. Rangiku's face looks up, her eyes spilling tears and she witnesses Gin's blue eyes filled with a sadness Rangiku understood just before he embraces her. Gin chokes hoarsely, "Don't say you're sorry ever again - it's my fault not yours." She feels his cold hands on her back pushing her into his chest tightly, and she finds her heart ache for Gin's sad words, her forehead pressing into his collar of his black button up shirt. Gin stood there holding onto her so tightly Rangiku was sure she'd break if she were a piece of glass.

Rangiku didn't care, she let out a light sob as she grabbed onto his black shirt, gripping onto it as tightly as he held her. Gin felt like crying too, but he didn't even know why - was it because he made Rangiku cry? Or was it because he wanted her to come with him when he left that day - but she didn't follow him - not immediately. Was that why he's sad?

Gin tucks his chin over Rangiku's head, his electric blue eyes watering as he heard Rangiku cry loudly in the dark room. He isn't sure whether he could ever leave Rangiku again, not when he knows he'll be leaving her like this. He knows the two of them have a huge mess of emotions flying out of them right now, and he isn't sure how they can even possibly repair them. His eyes close as he breathes in Rangiku's scent his nose touching the top of her head. She smells like flowers and a tint of vanilla like she always did; she smells like home. They both know that the problems between them were nowhere near being repaired.

But at least they have gotten closer to fixing things - even if it is only a small insignificant step. Gin briefly wonders if Rangiku still plans to make him soup this early in the morning. Would she be still crying when she made it? Or would she be smiling like she always does?

Even when she's on the brink of crying her heart out.

(^.^)

Thursday - 5:30 pm

"Oh come on Ichigo quit being a sour puss and just take it!" Yoruichi persists her yellow eyes blinking seriously at him. Ichigo's mind remembers the same teasing words being used by Mai's mom that time at the horrible party he dreamed about. He shudders at the bad memory and scowls to the older woman in front of him, "I don't deserve this employee of the month prize, and I don't go out to the movies anyways." Urahara apparently chose Ichigo as employee of the month, and since he's on a business trip to another city with his two kids to go sightseeing with them while working, Yoruichi decided to take the reigns of the business while her husband was away. Apparently this isn't the first time the mysterious man has left the business in Yoruichi's care; so far the woman seems completely at ease doing her husband's job so Ichigo didn't question her.

"You can take your daughter so you two can see a movie!" Yoruichi remarks her eyes challenging him to decline her offer even further. Ichigo sighs in agreement at the persistent woman shoving the free movie passes in front of his face until his mind registers what Yoruichi just stated to him.

"Wait - how did you?" -

"Urahara does research on all his employees. We know about Mai," Yoruichi responds swiftly whilst waving the passes in front of Ichigo's shocked face. "What?! Uh god, Urahara's crazy!" Ichigo exclaims, thinking that Urahara is planning something weird - he didn't trust the man at all, now that he knew about Mai, Ichigo may have to move and take Mai as far away as possible.

"Ichigo. Urahara may seem unreliable and kind of too weird to trust him but he's a good guy. It's not like he's tracking your every move or video taping you or your daughter. He doesn't even know what she looks like, all he knows is her name and that you are her legal guardian and Father. So just relax about it," Yoruchi explains calmly and Ichigo's uncertain for a moment and not sure whether to believe the mysterious woman in front of him but looking into Yoruichi's eyes even Ichigo can tell clearly that she's telling the truth. Yoruichi is kind and normal compared to Urahara - she's also married to him so Urahara can't be a threat to his daughter.

Ichigo looks away from Yoruchi's light eyes, feeling slightly guilty for the strange man he assumed was not to be trusted. "Tell him thanks for choosing me and for buying me these free passes," as Ichigo hastily takes the passes from Yoruichi's hand, pushing the passes into his jeans pocket, and she grins in response finding the orange haired man in front of her amusing. Ichigo continues, "Oh, by the way, does Urahara always get the employee of the month free movie passes?"

Yoruichi lets out a light laugh in response to Ichigo's question, and says in the midst of her laughing, "Nah it depends on the person, last time a guy got lingerie to give to his girlfriend." Ichigo's face turns red at the mention of lingerie, and begins thinking Yoruichi is just as crazy as his boss - no wonder they were together.

"God, you have a kid but despite that your as innocent as a virgin! Here take this," Yoruichi states. Ichigo decides to ignore her comment due to her shoving a piece of paper into his hands. Ichigo stares blankly down at it, "What is it?"

"A single girl's number of course, you and I both know you need to date immediately or else you will regret it afterwards. Urahara's right you know - you can't just give up," Yoruichi playfully answers the man, her eyes glinting in amusement. "I'm not giving up okay?! I don't want anything like that!" Ichigo throws the number onto the ground his eyebrows furrowing in frustration. Everyone is bothering him about dating whether it be Urahara, or Gin, or Lisa or Riruka and now Yoruichi!

But they don't realize he's not ready and that women don't want to date single Dads with no time. Sure women like a man who's good with kids, hence the women at the grocery store who's eyes turn to big bowling balls at the sight of him and Mai together, but no one would stay with him anyways. He'd have no extra time to spend with them cause he barely already has time to spend with Mai, and it's not like he can stay overnight at a girl's place cause he needs to take Mai home. No woman could have the patience for that type of stuff, or be willing to be second to Mai. The only way Ichigo could date anyone would be when Mai's in her late teen years and even then Ichigo would be far too old to hit the dating scene. Ichigo wonders where the hell Urahara even gets these single women's numbers that he keeps giving Ichigo.

Ichigo shakes his head from thinking about it too much and states, "I'm leaving - and tell Urahara to quit giving me random ladies numbers!" Ichigo shouts as he walks out of the delivery shop, leaving Yoruichi with her arms crossed as she stares down at the lonely piece of paper thrown onto the ground.

"Kids these days, they got no clue how fast it goes by," Yoruichi sighs her eyes closing in impatience. _Why does he always leave me here, and take the kids for all the fun? I swear I'm getting the short end of the stick every time Kisuke_ Yoruichi muses as she turns around to the breakroom her long ponytail of purple hair swinging behind her.

(^.^)

Ichigo's feet drag against the leaves on the ground, and he adjusts his black tie, since he's heading to work after picking Mai up from the preschool, and dropping her off at Hiyori's house. He's still in a bad mood after that talk with Yoruichi and just wishes the day would be over already, wind blew at Ichigo's bare face as he quickly ran towards the preschool's front doors. Ichigo reminds himself he should probably wear a jacket next time so that he isn't freezing every time he walks outside. He gives out a relived sigh as he steps into the warm preschool, the vents on the ceiling blowing in warm air against Ichigo's cold face.

Ichigo makes his way into the waiting area, and recognizes the tall large man standing in front of Isane's tidy desk. "Kenpachi?" Ichigo asks as he walks to the large man's side, "What are you doing here?" Kenpachi normally comes to pick Yachiru up much later. Kenpachi grunts to Ichigo acknowledging his employee's prescence before stating, "I'm taking today off, and leaving Gin in charge. Yachiru's been not feeling too good for awhile now, but she went to school anyways - she can't miss spending time with her friends." Kenpachi seems slightly worried about Yachiru's well being causing Ichigo to smirk, "So I guess this may have to do with her not wearing a jacket right?" Kenpachi scowls in response, while cussing at Ichigo under his breath for bringing up Kenpachi's bad laundry skills.

Before Ichigo could tease his boss some more, knowing full well Kenpachi wouldn't do anything to him at the preschool, Unohana's light voice is heard from behind the men, "Ichigo, it's good to see your here, Mai's excited to see you." She gestured to Mai who's standing behind her legs, staring at Kenpachi as if he sprouted out a third head. Ichigo smiles down at his daughter, he bends down extending his arms, and Mai runs towards his open arms immediately giving her father a hug. Kenpachi grins to the mature woman, "Unohana, it's good to see you again. You haven't changed one bit have you? Nearly gave the two of us a heart attack sneaking up behind us like that." Ichigo feels slightly awkward standing between these two who could possibly be flirting in his presence.

"Yachiru is running late, she said she had wrestling practice today," Unohana smiles, but Ichigo notices the smile turns slightly into a smirk. Ichigo questions, "She's on the wrestling team? I'm actually not that surprised," Ichigo glances at Kenpachi thinking to himself that she probably inherited that trait from her adoptive father.

Before he could hear any more banter that may make Ichigo feel even more like a third wheel, Ichigo says, "I guess we better head over to Hiyori's - don't want to be late," he waves to Unohana, and Mai copies his actions before following her Father to the front doors quickly grabbing onto his left hand. Kenpachi hollers, "Tell Gin to make sure he doesn't mess up!" Ichigo feels sincerely sorry for Gin's predicament as he agrees with his bosses request. Gin still wasn't feeling well, so the poor man may possibly faint by the time the night's over to Kenpachi's unawareness. Unohana smiles as Ichigo and Mai leave before turning her attention back to the large man in front of her, "You really do know how to scare your workers don't you?"

"It works every time. And it's not like I'm the only one who does it - if I remember correctly you do the same," Kenpachi smirks down his face leaning close to Unohana's calm face. Her blue eyes seem slightly amused with Kenpachi's words, her braid is as neat as ever behind her shoulders, wearing her usual long sleeve shirt and long skirt.

"Ah, but I think I may be a little more intimidating than you'll ever be," Unohana replies, her voice teasing Kenpachi who grins widely down at her.

...

Ichigo begins driving Mai to Hiyori's place and asks Mai how her day was. "Well, Nel-chan nearly bit off Nnoitra's hand!" Nel is Mai's friend at the preschool, she's a very strange girl from what Ichigo hears in his daughter stories - but he's never met her because her parents pick her up before he picks up Mai. Ichigo shakes his head, "That girl doesn't learn does she?"

"It's not her fault Daddy! Nnoitra was saying mean things about her! She just got angry!" Mai defends, her mouth pouting at her orange haired father. Ichigo smiles at his daughter, "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you go biting someone's hand! He probably just secretly _likes_ her!"

"Likes?" Mai echoes, seeming unsure of what it entails. Ichigo grins, "I mean, _Like_ likes," his amber eyes shining against the sun that's beginning to set in the sky.

"Wha!?" Mai blurts out her eyes seeming confused, she crosses her arms angrily, "That doesn't make any sense! If he _like_ likes her then why is he such a meanie?!" Ichigo chuckles at his daughter, finding her young way of thinking adorable, "I don't know boys doesn't understand how to act around girls, so they do dumb things." Mai taps her chin with her index finger in deep thought, "Hmm... I'll tell Nel-chan about this tomorrow! Maybe they can stop fighting then!"

"As long as no boys are bothering you, it's fine," Ichigo says lightly, and Mai squirms, "Not with Nel-chan always protecting me; she thinks I can't talk without her saying stuff for me!" Ichigo can tell Mai's embarrassed about this, and Ichigo eases her worries, "Just tell her you can talk yourself! Even if you take awhile to say something, as long as you talk it's fine," he takes this chance to ruffle his daughter's hair. She yells at him for tangling her hair, and Ichigo merely sticks out his tongue at her, and Mai bursts into a fit of laughter. Ichigo grins, wishing that Mai will always let him ruffle up her hair; even Ichigo knows that it's a false hope - she'll grow up one day and ruffling her hair would be a part of the past.

(^.^)

"Gin, where do you think your going?! You haven't even finished your soup yet!" Rangiku pouts, planting her hand firmly onto her hips, staring up at the tall silver haired man. Gin can tell she's trying to intimidate him, but with that adorable pout on her lips it's hard to take the woman seriously. "Yeah, yeah, well I had most of it," Gin waves off Rangiku, his blue eyes staring at her in amusement. "I'm being serious! You can't go to work when you're not even better yet - you'll only get worse!" Rangiku's eyes are determined to not let Gin leave, and he scratches his neck nervously unsure of how to respond.

"Kenpachi will kill me with his bare hands if I don't come in to work Ran-chan," Gin replies swiftly while putting on his black dressy shoes. Rangiku watches him intently the pout still evident on her face, "I don't care how scary that man is, I'll go convince him myself if I have to!" Gin gets up suddenly, Rangiku gives the man a worried look wondering if something's wrong and if he's not feeling well again. His face turns and his electric blue eyes lock with her concerned gaze. Rangiku looks away from his gaze, seeming unsure of herself now, "Just take your medication with you, and don't forget to take it on your breaks," she sounds kind of disappointed when she says this and she isn't even sure why - Gin has to go to work, she knows that.

"We are already acting like husband and wife," Gin jokes, with a slight sigh and Rangiku stammers with blush tainting her peachy cheeks, "Wha? N-no, I didn't mean to!" her hands waving around in denial.

"Ya I know Ran-chan! I'll be fine. Don't worry bout me, kay?" Gin grins at Rangiku, his body turning around fully to face her, his blue eyes boring into her pale orbs, while Gin ruffles the top of her head. _It feels different from when she had short hair_ Gin thinks to himself when the golden orange hair doesn't move around as much. Rangiku looks at the ground, finding Gin's act of affection incredibly sweet. "Um," Rangiku mumbles, but before she can continue Gin pulls her head towards his chest practically pushing her into him. Rangiku's face heats up at the memory of being pressed up against him on Tuesday morning. Gin whispers, "Arigatou, Ran-chan."

Rangiku is reminded of the other time Gin said those words to her and smiles before pulling away from him and grabbing his red scarf from the coat hanger. She smiles down at it appreciatively before wrapping it around his neck, and adjusting it while humming to herself. Gin says his voice soft, "Your gonna be a great wife one day, right Ran-chan?" Rangiku smiles lightly, her pale eyes focusing on adjusting the scarf her voice still humming cheerfully. Gin continues, "Just make sure you practice cooking a little more!" Rangiku's eye twitches, and her hands tighten the scarf around his pale neck angrily, "Women don't _have_ to cook you know! My husband will know his way in the kitchen - and I'll add whatever I want to it, and he wouldn't care!"

"Rangiku!" Gin chokes out against Rangiku's strangling as she practically shakes the man in front of her in frustration. Rangiku pushes Gin away roughly, almost causing him to topple into the front door, she continues, "Unlike _some_ people who hate it!" She doesn't understand why he always teases her immediately after complimenting her - it just irked her to no end that he acts this way.

"I never said I hated your soup, I just said to practice," Gin points out with a smirk. Rangiku is about to object to him but Gin suddenly shuffles to her and plants a light kiss on her forehead, his lips hovering over her head for a second and his breath tickles her forehead nearly causing her to shiver before he backs away. The busty woman touches her forehead slightly surprised, and as her bright eyes shift towards Gin he's already opening the door to leave, his blue eyes land on the woman wearing baggy sweatpants, he singsongs, "Bye, bye!" He waves at the gorgeous woman behind him and there is a large smile planted on his face. He closes the door behind him, leaving Rangiku to sigh to herself and glare at the door, thinking of why she even takes care of him in the first place. She smiles at the door after a few moments, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Ah, I remember now," Rangiku mumbles to herself, she fiddles with her sweatpants remembering how Gin remarked about them earlier in the morning.

"That man can be such an idiot sometimes."

(^.^)

"How are you holding up?" Ichigo questions Gin as the said man hands a woman her drink who gives a small smile in return. Gin turns his head, "I'm doing better," Gin responds to his co-worker cheerfully, his smile not fading from his face. His eyes are hidden as always, and despite how bad he looks, Gin seems genuinely happy. "So why are you in such a good mood?" Ichigo asks curiously wanting to know what's gotten Gin to act so happy go lucky to everyone, even the women who flirt with him.

Gin ignores his question completely causing Ichigo to frown at the man and furrow his eyebrows wondering just what the hell that mind of Gin's is actually thinking - if he knew he's pretty sure he'd jump for joy to actually know something about his mysterious friend. Gin seems to know everything there is about him, but he still has no clue about Gin's life out of the restaurant's doors. "I'll never tell you," Gin chimes as he wipes a wine glass, seeming very smug about himself.

Ichigo sighs giving up on wrapping his mind around what's going on in Gin's life. Suddenly a bright high voice singsongs, "Because he's lovey dovey with his girlfriend~!" Ichigo's head turns to see Riruka grinning widely at Gin and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Riruka's hair is tied in a ponytail, the pink locks moving as Mashiro drapes her arm over her friend's shoulder, "Yes his girlie! And he whispers to her on the phone~!" Mashiro squeals loudly, and Ichigo notices guests turning their heads at the bar, some of them laughing at Gin's predicament.

"Gin and his girlfriend sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G~!" Riruka and Mashiro chime, as they sway from side to side, and continue the entire song. Gin curses and Ichigo doubles over in laughter, not even caring that they were starting a big commotion and that Kenpachi may split all their skulls if he found out.

Ichigo wipes away his teary eyes, still continuing to laugh, "Seriously, who's the girl?" Gin's grey toned skin is slightly more peach coloured and even turns a light shade of pink from the embarrassment that was Riruka and Mashiro singing in off key about his love life that didn't actually exist. It's all hard to take in - considering he isn't feeling too well. Ichigo stops his laughter and his wide brown eyes stare at Gin curiously, wondering what exactly Gin is thinking when he's staring into the wine glass he's holding his unseen irises hidden behind closed lids.

Gin turns his head to the two girls, "There's no girl - now get back to work you two fan-girls! Or else I'll have Kenpachi kick your asses until you can't sing again," Gin orders the young women, but he doesn't sound intimidating considering the circumstances and the fact his face is still flushed. Ichigo wonders if the man could ever gain his dignity back, boy is Ichigo glad he doesn't have a girlfriend.

Riruka smirks and waves at Gin, "Yeah, yeah, have fun with your girlfwiend~!" Mashiro giggles loudly at the two older men before skipping after the pink haired hostess.

"Those two are actually devils - I'm sure of it," Gin grunts to himself, and Ichigo chuckles at his friend's joke. Ichigo's amber eyes linger on Gin as the silver haired man prepares another alcoholic beverage for the same woman as before. _What do you mean Gin, that you don't have a girlfriend? Then who's the girl Riruka and Mashiro are talking about? She couldn't just be Gin's friend could she? I thought Gin wasn't the friend type of guy - he's more of the type to keep their distance _Ichigo thinks as he works alongside with Gin. Ichigo wonders briefly if Gin simply didn't tell the woman about his love for her, he just wishes Gin could talk with him about it, so maybe he could help or give Gin his opinion. But the truth is Ichigo probably wouldn't be any help at all. He knew next to nothing about woman, and being in love. The idea of being in love always felt to be make belief to Ichigo. That's what Ichigo wants to think but he knows that it's not true either - falling in love is possible, he knows because his Mom and Dad fell in love and had him. He knew how much they loved each other. That's enough proof to believe in it.

...

"Ichigo, Ichigo? Are ya even listening to me?" Gin states somewhat impatiently to his friend, and Ichigo could barely hear the man over the bar's noise since Gin's voice is slowly getting even less apparent throughout the night due to how sick he is. Gin even left a couple times to take medicine, but even that seemed to not help, Ichigo even remembers hearing his silver haired friend mumble something about having soup under his breath.

"Huh? What is it?!" Ichigo asks, practically yelling in his friend's ear over the loud noise of the restaurant and bar.

"The restaurant's closing soon, you should leave early and pick up Mai-chan! On your way home bring her by here - I'd love to meet her!" Gin tries to yell back in Ichigo's ear but his voice is slowly losing it's capabilities to speak. Ichigo thinks that this not girlfriend of his would probably be angry about Gin's well being considering he actually came to work today and for the rest of the week he will probably sound like a smoker, raspy voice and all. Ichigo remembers Gin's request and realizes that he's always talked about Mai with everyone in the restaurant but Ichigo barely talks about them with his daughter, maybe occasionally but he always thought Mai would find them boring. But Ichigo knew these group of workers were anything but boring.

"Yeah, sure! But are you sure you can take care of the bar? You're still sick you know!" Ichigo responds loudly, the noise in the restaurant is beginning to dim down since some people were leaving. The place is going to close in fifteen minutes anyways, so there's really no harm in Ichigo leaving - he's just worried since Gin's practically barely standing upright from all the noise in the room.

"Ya, ya - it's no big deal! Just go get Mai-chan like the good Father you are~!" Gin chimes in a teasing manner. Ichigo rolls his brown eyes, "Don't whine about it next time though."

"Sure," Gin answers lightly, and Ichigo doesn't like the uncertainty of his response but decides to just get the hell out of there anyways since even he was feeling a little lightheaded from working hard for so long. He glances at his watch on his wrist, and realizes that it's already 12:00 am - he knew waking up Mai at this time and taking her to meet them all would definitely be a hassle. She probably won't even remember any of it in the morning. As Ichigo drives to pick Mai up he feels strangely excited about Mai meeting his friends at work - they were practically his family already and he hadn't even been working there for very long.

...

"Aren't ya here early?" Hiyori mutters as she stares at Ichigo in a suspicious manner. Ichigo rolls his eyes at the small girl and she continues her yellow brown eyes boring a hole in his orange hair, "Did ya get fired? Cause I'm not lowering the price for" - "NO! Now let me in already you crazy bitch- OW!" Ichigo howls angrily, gripping onto his now stinging shin from her hard kick. And she's wearing only flip-flops too. "What was that for?!" Ichigo glares at her while rubbing his shin in hopes of curing the pain in it. _Damn when did I get so wimpy?_ Ichigo thinks to himself as he stares up at Hiyori since he's hunched over inspecting his shin.

Her freckled cheeks are red in anger, "Whaddya mean why?! You can't go calling me a bitch ya asshole! Yer daughter's in the other room you know-stupid baldy!" she spits out furiously, her eyes challenging him to bother her any further. Ichigo decides that this is enough drama for one night - considering Yoruichi talking to him about lingerie, Urahara knowing about Mai, and Gin having a possible girlfriend, this is just the cherry on top for Ichigo's _wonderful _day. "I need to get going so here's your pay," Ichigo mumbles grouchily, as he pulls out his wallet, and Hiyori crosses her arms as she looks away seeming still mad about what he'd said. Ichigo thinks to himself that her boyfriend must be crazy to actually put up with her antics.

He takes out a few bills and Hiyori hastily grabs them out of his outstretched hand, shoving them into her pink sweater's pocket. "C'mon, she's in her usual place," Hiyori motions her head to the side directing Ichigo to come in, and Ichigo obeys. He doesn't want another possible bruise on any more parts of his body.

...

"Mai? Mai?" Ichigo whispers softly to his daughter while lightly shaking her shoulders. The girl is cozy inside her warm jacket, blush staining her pale cheeks in the warmth. They are parked outside the now empty restaurant, and Ichigo can tell that the others probably still haven't left since the lights are still on.

"Are we home yet?" Mai mumbles as she rubs her closed eyelids with her small fingers. "No, not yet. My friends at work want to meet you - you know like Gin and Inoue, remember?" Ichigo reminds her as he unbuckles her seat belt, hoping with all his heart his daughter remembers him talking about them. "Gin isn't the scary monster at the preschool, right?" Mai quivers, her lips frowning and eyebrows scrunching at the thought of the horrible dark man. Ichigo laughs, "Nah - that's my boss. And don't worry, everyone's scared of him."

"Everyone?! But you're not scared of anyone!" Mai states proudly, while smiling up at her father, and Ichigo chuckles at her response before ruffling her hair stating, "come on sweetie, we don't want to make them wait." "Okie, dokie~!" Mai hums with the bob of her head, her wavy hair following her head's movements as she stares out the passenger window. Her green eyes seem to be filled with wonder at the dark parking lot filled with leaves falling from nearby trees when he opens her door to let her out of the truck. "You like it?" Ichigo asks uncertainly, thinking the place seems kind of creepy this late at night, with only the streetlights and dim lighting of the restaurant barely bringing any brightness to the eerie lot. Her light green eyes look up at her father then shift back to the fallen leaves, "Yeah, it looks pretty~!"

Ichigo wonders briefly whether or not it's good she finds this atmosphere pretty but decides against even thinking about it and merely grabs onto his daughter's hand, leading her to his co workers and only friends he even has in this city.

Ichigo opens the front door and is greeted with loud yelling from the bar in the dark lit restaurant a male voice yelling, "No way in hell am I doing that you crazy!" - "You have to~! Tee, hee!" Ichigo immediately recognizes the voices as Kensei and Mashiro - though he didn't even know Kensei was working today since he works in the kitchen; Ichigo isn't allowed to step foot into that war zone - specific orders from Kenpachi himself.

Ichigo tightens his grip on Mai's hand for a moment, causing Mai to look up at her father in worry, wondering if he is scared and wants too go home instead. He turns to the right, and walks over to the bar, Kensei is the first to notice the two of them, and he seems relieved that a distraction has appeared to avert the conversation subject from himself. "Ichigo! You're back!" Kensei shouts, a grin spreading onto his face, he's wearing a regular t-shirt and baggy blue jeans. Everyone's head turns to witness Ichigo and Mai at once, and Ichigo notices the looks of surprise from everyone but Gin, who just has that same sly smile as he always does plastered onto his grey toned face.

"Aw~! MAI!?" Orihime squeals as she practically jumps out of her seat at the bar, quickly lowering herself at eye level to the little girl. Mai hides behind Ichigo's legs at first causing Orihime to tilt her head to the side in curiosity, "hm, you are Mai aren't you? Kurosaki-kun talks about you all the time! He says you're brave and smart, isn't that right Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asks, her voice lighthearted, and Ichigo smiles down at Mai while patting her small head. "Yeah. Mai, this is Inoue Orihime, she works as a waitress here, but she's studying to be a nurse," Ichigo explains calmly, and Orihime blushes slightly when Ichigo says her first name, and Ichigo finds Orihime's first name feels foreign on his lips - he didn't feel natural while speaking it out loud. Mai comes from behind his legs, and smiles widely up at Orihime, "You have a pretty name! Orihime is such a nice name!"

Orihime taps her index finger on her chin, seeming in thought, "Well, it does mean princess, but yours is pretty too, Mai means dance! Call me Orihime if you want to Mai-chan~!" Ichigo smiles down at the two, glad that Mai gets along with another woman, since she rarely has any around her considering her mother is out of the picture. He's always worried that it may affect the way she sees woman but she's glad she isn't narrow-minded like other kids could be. Riruka sits down on her knees beside Orihime saying with a smile, "Yeah, Mai is such a good name, do you know why you were named Mai?" Ichigo stiffens at that sentence and before Mai can open her mouth, Ichigo interjects swiftly, "She's always moving around, right Mai?" Mai looks down at the ground at first seeming unsure of what to do but then nods up at her father and Riruka rolls her eyes, "Aw, how boring!"

Orihime pouts her grey eyes seeming slightly hurt, "Riruka, you shouldn't be so negative, Mai has a great name, who cares for reasons - it's her name and that's that!" Ichigo chuckles as Riruka bickers with Orihime, ignores her pleas and the two woman continue their conversation to the entrance - Riruka obviously planning on fleeing Orihime's scolding. Orihime doesn't realize she's leaving until she rounds the corner, she turns quickly shouting, "See you Mai-chan! Kurosaki-kun! Bye!" the strands of her long red hair is the last Mai sees of Orihime as she weakly waves to the woman leaving, her smile fading as the bubbly woman disappears. Kensei pats Ichigo on the shoulder bidding him a farewell, Mashiro following quickly behind him spurring some nonsense Ichigo would never understand. It isn't until they leave that Ichigo realizes Gin's the last person left who's still standing behind the black counter of the bar, he coughs into his elbow loudly, and takes a drink of water from a water bottle in his right hand. He wipes his forehead, and Ichigo thinks maybe Mai should maintain her distance from the sick man. Children always get sick easily, and Mai getting sick would only complicate things.

Mai looks up at Ichigo expectantly, wondering when exactly they can go home, her eyelids are blinking rapidly, and Ichigo can tell as his eyes glance onto her emerald's that the little girl wants to go to sleep immediately. "Gin, this is Mai. Mai this is Gin - he's a good friend of mine," Ichigo musters, with a small almost smile that plays onto his lips. Gin makes his way around the bar, having the same creepy, fox-like sly smile of his, the only smile he can ever give on his grey skinned face. Mai hides behind Ichigo legs as Gin sits down cross legged in front of her, chiming, "It's nice to meet ya, Mai-chan! I can call you that, right?" Mai nods lightly, and Ichigo chuckles at his daughter, and pushes her towards the man. Mai turns her face to Ichigo giving him a confused look before standing in front of Gin. Gin gives her a puzzled expression, "Aw, come on Mai-chan I don't bite~!" Mai seems guilty for a moment and Ichigo glances his brown eyes over to Gin, and notices something that nearly causes him to topple over in surprise.

Gin's eyelids are open completely revealing the most electric blue eyes that almost shine in the dim lighting of the restaurant. Ichigo always thought Gin's eye colour wouldn't suite him, or would make him look even more creepy - but it does quite the opposite, Gin actually looks pretty normal. Ichigo thought he'd never think such a thing, but when he's looking at Gin's small blinking wide eyes he can't stop himself from thinking him to be a normal person. Not too normal - his eyes were a blue he's never seen before - he couldn't even come up for a word to describe them. "I'm not scared!" Mai grumbles slightly, but her shoulders are far more relaxed then before.

"You're such a sweet girl Mai-chan - how was preschool? Did anything happen?" Gin questions, and to Ichigo's surprise Mai giggles and sits cross legged in front of Gin, answering him seriously. There's not a single etch of fear in his daughter's light green emerald irises, and Ichigo decides to sit at one of the restaurant table's chairs - he had a feeling Gin and Mai would take awhile. Ichigo was worried they wouldn't get along - but Gin turns out to be good with talking to everyone; probably even with that not-girlfriend of his.

He definitely will figure out who she is - Gin knows Mai; Ichigo should know who's important in Gin's life too, _she is his friend, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?_

(^.^)

Friday - 12:30 pm

Rukia growls angrily at the two friends in front of her, her violet irises not moving from the sight in front of her. Her thin eyebrows begin twitching in irritation. Renji violently stabs his fork at his chicken breast lunch and Jackie ignores the man's angry noises as she calmly takes a bite from her sub sandwich. The atmosphere is so tense and silent that it's starting to drive Rukia mad. The two friends in front of her have been avoiding talking with each other all week - every lunch is spent in an eerie silence, the only noise being the clanking of their cutlery and the chewing of their food.

Rukia deadpans, "Are you two seriously going to keep this up all week? You're going to have to give up at some point!" Technically they already have almost been keeping this up for a week - an entire work week that is. Rukia isn't even quite sure what happened on Monday night when they went to have dinner on the so called 'hot date' as Rangiku had told her. The two friends didn't give her a single clue as to what had occurred. Renji had ignored her completely and Jackie had seemed too guilty to even look Rukia in the eyes.

Jackie and Renji in the present time refuse to look at each other and Renji gives Rukia a slight glare his dark small eyes piercing into her so harshly she wonders how seriously bad the situation must be. Her violet eyes cast down to Jackie who seems to have that guilty expression again on her face as she stares at her sub sandwich. It's a pretty sad sight; Rukia wonders how long she'll have to suffer through this.

Ever since Monday she hasn't been able to invite Jackie over or talk with her friend at all, because of this 'incident' or whatever it was with Renji their friendship is being ruined. And this is the only stable aspect of her life too - her friends were always the stable ones; she's the one who's always uncertain in her life. Jackie's always been a stable pillar to lean on, but now she's fallen and is no longer standing upright. This may cause more problems than what Rukia needs right now - to make this day _greater_ would be a visit from Byakuya; if that were to happen today she might as well be dead.

Rukia sighs at her predicament and just quietly continues to eat her lunch. Rangiku is running late to have lunch with them because she arrived late this morning for work. Rangiku hadn't told her why exactly she came in late - but she did know that Gin stayed over at Rangiku's place on Monday night. Rangiku didn't have time to tell her the entire story since the whole Renji incident occurred and the two of them were interrogating Jackie and Renji all of Tuesday. Rukia has a hunch that Rangiku's still taking care of him, since she did mention how sick Gin was. Rukia still hasn't met Gin and isn't sure whether to be happy for Rangiku or to be making sure Gin doesn't hurt her all over again.

Rukia is somewhat happy for Rangiku but wishes that the timing didn't have to be so bad. Rukia needs as much support so that these lunches are a little more bearable. Rangiku is far better at breaking the ice and lowering the harsh atmosphere. Rukia is horrible at this type of thing. She just wishes this lunch could be somehow saved, Rukia and Rangiku definitely need to come up with a plan to fix this; and it's going to have to be quick too, or else things may get far worse - and this time Jackie won't be the one who can piece things back together, it'll only be Rukia and Rangiku.

That thought was all it took for Rukia to realize how doomed they were.

(^.^)

Friday - 3:20 pm

"You should have seen them Rangiku! They weren't even in the same universe when they ate! Can you believe this?!" Rukia rambles as she stabs at her keyboard angrily, her eyes glaring daggers as she types an email. Rukia doesn't hear a response and points out, "Are you even listening Rangiku!?"

Rangiku jumps in her seat, her eyes seeming like they were spaced out in thought, until she realizes Rukia glaring at her impatiently. "Sorry! I know how important this is - but maybe we should wait it out? Sometimes things work out on their own, you know?"

Rukia sighs gripping her temples with her fingertips in frustation, "Like you and Gin? And look how horrible that turned out! There's no way we can let them go on like this!" Rangiku looks away from Rukia's stare and Rukia regrets saying that about her friend immediately, "Sorry Rangiku - today's just been a bad day. I didn't mean to take it out on you." Rangiku nods a bright smile forming on her face saying, "No problem!" Rukia can tell Rangiku's faking a smile when she's actually hurt about what she said. Rukia stops typing and asks, "So... speaking of Gin - I didn't get to ask you about what happened."

Rangiku's cheeks heat up slightly, and Rukia raises an eyebrow at her busty friend. "Is that blush I see? Don't tell me you guys" -

"We didn't do anything! I just have been letting him stay over until his fever's over. He worked yesterday, and came back feeling drained and he's working tonight again. I hope he'll get better soon."

"Is that all?" Rukia suggests, her eyebrows raising.

"I guess, we haven't kissed if that's what you mean. And I doubt it'll happen we haven't kissed since" -

"Wait a minute! I thought you said you guys were never more than friends!"

"We kissed at prom night and I think a couple of times before that - but they weren't big kisses! We've never dated or anything, Gin didn't do that with any girls." Rangiku's face heats up at remembering the first time he'd kissed her in grade five, she begged him to kiss her - since no one ever liked her before, and she was upset that the boys teased her at school. She remembers that moment so vividly she can almost still feel his lips on hers, and the tears staining her cheeks. Remembering it made Rangiku realize how silly she'd been for crying like that; she was definitely very sensitive back then.

She remembers the crying from Tuesday morning in Gin's strong arms that held her for so long the two didn't even realize how much time had passed when Rangiku finally pulled away, having no more tears falling down her cheeks. She decides to not even mention about that fiasco to Rukia - and to tell her another time. She senses that the whole Renji incident isn't the only thing that's been bothering her. Rukia doesn't seem to be in a good mood meaning something's definitely up.

"Enough about me Rukia - what about you? Why is today such a bad day?" Rangiku questions curiously.

Rukia looks away from Rangiku and casts her eyes at the message she was typing, "Um... well it's just that Byakuya called - he complained about how I didn't continue anything with Kaien the man that I met up with on Monday."

"You mean the guy you had a date with?"

"No, not a date - he's in love with another woman, so we just talked about her the whole time. He's a really sweet guy too. Anyways Byakuya called last night, and he also told me Kaien proposed to the woman and now they plan to get married soon. He told me he thinks I should leave this company and aim higher but I always tell him the same thing, and he's always disappointed. It kind of makes me wonder why he even calls so much. It's not like he even cares about me anyways."

Rangiku gives Rukia a sad look, seeing how sad Rukia is just makes her heart break. She knows that Byakuya has never been friendly with Rukia ever since her sister married him out of nowhere. Hisana and Byakuya met when Hisana had protested against one of his plans - Rukia remembers Hisana not even speaking Byakuya's name because Hisana thought he was a horrible person who only cared about himself. That changed when the two met though, Hisana began calling Rukia up less, and Rukia no longer heard about Hisana's protesting plans. Soon enough Byakuya cancelled the plans he had initialized to destroy their neighborhood park - and then Rukia met Byakuya a day later being introduced as Hisana's fiance. Remembering the entire confusing story only made Rangiku's head hurt.

She really sympathizes with Rukia since she hasn't been as close with Hisana as before she married Byakuya. Rangiku knows Rukia misses her older sister dearly, and probably unconsciously blames Byakuya at the back fo her mind for it - which is why she resents him a lot. Rangiku states calmly, "Rukia, maybe he is worried about you - I mean Hisana loves you so much, and if Hisana loves you that much then maybe Byakuya cares just as much as she cares about you. He knows how much Hisana worries about how you're doing - she just wants you to be happy," Rangiku explains trying to sound as helpful as possible.

Rukia closes her eyes, "I know, I know how much she cares Rangiku. But sometimes I just wish she doesn't think I need to have some guy to take care of me or something - I mean what if I don't end up being with a guy? Is that really so bad?"

"Hisana doesn't want you to date a guy because he needs to take care of you - she wants you to have someone to love - someone to love just as much as she loves Byakuya; you can't always face things alone Rukia. Maybe one day you can be with someone to face things together - and you can take care of him just as much as he takes care of you." Rukia kind of understands what Rangiku's saying and the next time she speaks with Byakuya she'll tell him not to worry about her too much and that Hisana already does enough of that on her own. Rukia feels a whole lot better after hearing Rangiku's advice, she wonders why she never asks Rangiku about anything before this. Maybe it's cause Rangiku doesn't seem like the serious type of person - but that was completely wrong; Rangiku's far more mature than Rukia will ever be. Rangiku knows what love is like because she's always feeling it with Gin.

"Like you and Gin take care of each other?" Rukia asks with a thankful smile on her face.

"Maybe - I sometimes wonder if I take care of him just as much as he takes care of me." Rangiku casts her pale eyes at Rukia, and Rukia gives her friend an encouraging smile.

"Of course you take care him him Rangiku - you're nursing him back to health!" Rukia replies loudly, flashing her friend her white teeth.

"I guess so - but you don't understand until you're actually in love, trust me you'll understand it one day." Rangiku winks at Rukia who gives her a confused look as the busty woman leaves Rukia's large office to get back to the work that she never finishes. Rangiku immediately knows Toshiro would yell at her for slacking off once again - but she really didn't care she just wants to head home and sleep for once. This whole incident with Renji and Jackie's horrible date, and Gin staying at her place has been keeping her up at night, Gin and her even slept in the same bed - she's used to him being there despite how long it's been since they slept together like that.

His presence beside her still keeps her awake at night, she thinks if she closes her eyes it will be some sort of dream and she'll wake up finding him gone once more.

(^.^)

Friday - 6:00 pm

Rukia smiles to herself once hearing the satisfying click of her apartment's door closing. It isn't until she turns around that she realizes she should probably call Byakuya back and tell him to not worry about her so much. She decides she'll do it after watching some T.V and eating dinner. She heads over to her kitchen and scans the fridge's contents hoping that there is something she could eat in there that is still edible since she often forgets to clear out her fridge. Despite how prim and proper Rukia can be - she can also be very messy - if she didn't clean her desk every day it would probably look like a tornado had blown into her office.

Rukia hears noises from the quiet hall, and specifically hears a young girl's voice. She didn't even realize any kids lived in this scary apartment building, she always thought it's filled with drug attics, and people who have questionable activities that they do for fun. Which is why it's always quiet - never a friendly atmosphere in this creepy cheap apartment building. Rukia believes it must be the trick of her ears - or someone watching a T.V. show in another room. Raising a child in this horror house would be the most horrendous thing she ever heard.

"I guess leftover pizza will have to do," Rukia mutters to herself loudly, and she kicks the refrigerator's door closed holding the plate filled with pizza slices in her hands.

(^.^)

Friday - 6:30 pm

Ichigo laughs with his daughter as he hands her dinner, macaroni and cheese - specifically Kraft Dinner, but nonetheless the same thing. Mai dug in happily, whilst humming to herself, and Ichigo himself is about to take a bite of said food when his cell phone begins vibrating in his pocket. Ichigo sighs, his eyebrows scrunching together wondering just what the hell could be interrupting him at a time like this - it's Friday for Kami's sake, the day he's off work at the restaurant!

"Hello?" Ichigo answers in monotone, sounding not at all enthusiastic, he could care less if it was his boss Kenpachi, he's not faking happiness when he's dying to eat food. "Ichigo, where are you?" Gin asks, and Ichigo responds swiftly, "eating Kraft Dinner at home, why are you" -

"Ichigo, you're working tonight, remember - Kenpachi gave you an extra day to work this week?" Gin reminds Ichigo, and Ichigo nearly drops his fork in pure shock of his own stupidity. He needs to get Mai to Hiyori's place immediately, his shift's already starting; he's sure Kenpachi would kill him if he didn't come in today. "Shit! I forgot to write it down!" He covers his mouth afterwards realizing he stated a "bad" word, and he decides to head into their bedroom to talk privately. Unbeknownst to Ichigo, Mai's light eyes follow her Father's movements, and his worried expression, she quietly jumps off the chair deciding eavesdropping on this conversation wouldn't be too big of a deal.

"Relax Ichigo, Kenny isn't in yet."

"Kenny? Since when do you call the boss, Kenny?" Ichigo states in disgust, finding this extremely weird even for Gin's standards.

"Sorry, Yachiru-chan has been rubbing off on me, she often uses Kenpachi's cellphone and calls me up without him even knowing. He barely even understands how to use most technology so he never finds out about it," Gin quickly mutters, and Ichigo feels slightly calmer after hearing Gin talking about something other than him being late for work. He doesn't like being late and he always resents people who are.

"Okay, everything will be fine - I just need to call Hiyori up and - SHIT, OH GOD, I'm such a fucking idiot!" Ichigo suddenly shouts, and Gin immediately cringes from the loud sound piercing into his ear from the speaker on the restaurant's land-line.

"Ichigo what's wrong?" Gin asks, worry etched into his voice. "I fucking forgot when I agreed to work today - Hiyori can't babysit on Fridays! Shit, I'll have to find someone else and" - Gin interrupts him, "It's fine Ichigo maybe I can call Ran-chan up and," -

"Ran-chan? So this not-girlfriend does have a name? Well, never mind I don't know her, and I don't want to be a bother," Ichigo mutters quietly realizing his daughter may have heard him before. Gin can tell Ichigo's voice sounds desperate, and lost a little too.

"Wait Ichigo I" - the speaker turns silent and Gin continues yelling into the phone some more before slamming the phone to end the call on his end. He grumbles to himself, cussing angrily but worries still play across in his mind. He isn't sure whether he should mention this to Orihime or Riruka; he decides it would only cause even more problems if he did that - Orihime would surely worry and mess up all of the guests orders. For now he'll handle the bar and manage the restaurant until Ichigo get's to work, he nods to confirm his plan before opening and closing Kenpachi's office door.

Ichigo bangs his forehead on the table while crossing out the final name on his list, feeling a huge weight has been placed onto his shoulders. Not to mention Mai has been trying to distract him with her toys or her homework from the preschool - but Ichigo gives her halfhearted replies, and a fake smile before turning his eyes back to the crossed out names. Hiyori didn't babysit on Friday's he remembers it now because of Gin - when he first met Hiyori she told him she could work every day but on Friday because she often went out to a nearby city with her parents, or just out with her friends. He remembers her saying that she was leaving town this week but because of buying that present for Mai it totally slipped form his mind.

_This can't be happening, there's literally no one else left to ask help for! Everyone is too expensive, and I can't ask Unohana since she takes care of Yachiru. If I don't work tonight I won't be able to pay the amount for the rent or the food for this week - not to mention her preschool costs as well. I shouldn't have bought those gifts - I should have waited it out. I can't be a horrible Father forgetting things like this_ Ichigo thinks to himself, springing up to his feet and pacing across the room. Mai asks her Father what's wrong but he's thinking too thoroughly to hear his daughter call for him so timidly that her voice is almost a whisper. Ichigo doesn't want them to have to move into another building or to be forced into the horrible environment they were in before where they lived near drug dealers, and alcoholics in their old apartment building. The only reason they survived back then was because a kind old grandmother lived nearby and watched Mai - but she passed away when they moved to their new apartment building.

There has to be someone, anyone he can get to - Ichigo realizes the only other person who's left is _her_ the woman he doesn't even know the name of. The woman in the apartment across the hall that's always silent like all the other apartments in the old run down building.

"Uh, god why does it have to be her? No way there's no way I can ask her for this! But I don't have a choice do I?" Ichigo whispers to himself. Mai isn't quite sure what he's talking about but can tell her Father is worked up about something involving some girl - _maybe Hiyori?_ Mai thinks putting a finger on her chin in concentration while trying to figure out what's going on.

Ichigo despite wanting to forget the woman must admit even to himself he remembers the day they first met vividly despite how many months it's been, they haven't spoken since that horrible day they talked with each other. Ichigo just wished he didn't have to ask that woman - the woman who lives across the hall.

_Ichigo is heading back down from his apartment, after dropping off his grocery bags, it's a Friday late afternoon around the time where he picks Mai up from preschool. He's running late today but he's happy that he doesn't have to work at the fast food restaurant tonight - he hasn't been able to spend time with Mai too much due to the crazy shifts he always takes. Ichigo walks out of the elevator and begins heading towards the only exit out of the building - since the entire building was designed horribly - but felt someone walk straight into him, their head banging into his chest, nearly causing him to fall over. _

_Ichigo glares down yelling, "Hey, watch where you walk!" It isn't until his eyes adjust that he realizes just how small the woman in front of him was, the more important fact is the way her cold icy irises held his gaze, her eye colour consisting of so many hues of purple he doesn't know what her real eye colour actually is. He thinks immediately that this small looking pale and fragile woman would break if he ever even laid a hand on her, as if she were made of glass. The height difference between them causes Ichigo to crane his neck down towards her, and her short raven locks are so close to Ichigo he could almost smell her shampoo. He thought this woman was beautiful. Every aspect of her face was like some sort of piece of art mixing different colours together._

_"What the hell?! You're the one who walked into me! Watch where you're going!" the woman glares her icy eyes not faltering from his warm ambers. Ichigo's initial thought's of her vanish immediately, with the wrinkle of his nose, "You're short so you should be able to see me fine! It's not my fault you're so damn short that I don't even see you walking!" _

_The woman growls in frustration but suddenly opens her closed eyes seeming to realize something, "Ah, you're the one who lives across the hall from me - aren't you?!" she exclaims with the point of her small finger to his unruly orange coloured hair. Ichigo scowls in response to her statement, gripping her hand tightly while pushing it away from his face. _

_Ichigo wonders briefly why he never saw her before - he definitely would remember her face. Ichigo mutters, "Ah sorry I have no idea what the hell you're talking about, but then again you're pretty short - so I probably didn't see you."_

_"I'm not short you fool! Your the one who's freakishly tall! Anyways you went into your apartment before me because I was behind you then - I realized this strange carrot top man lived across from me!" she musters her eyebrow twitching in what Ichigo could guess to be irritation._

_"Carrot top? What the hell? Whatever, you bumped into me so freaking apologize!"_

_The short woman shakes her head, her violet eyes closing,"You know what? There's no point to even talking to you - you're not even worth my time!"_

_"Ah I see how it is. What am I, just trash to you? If you're thinking it, then just say it!" Ichigo thinks he might as well be seeing red because he's so angry right now he can almost see himself beating the crap out of her. People like her who are all high and mighty always got on his nerves no matter who they are - even extremely pretty woman._

_"Yes, dirty filthy trash that's just getting in my way, so why don't you just go back where you belong in the garbage can before I throw you in one myself!" Rukia yells back while walking away, and Ichigo fails to make a come back to that, "Well! Whatever! God damn it!" Ichigo shouts more so to himself than to the cold woman he just met. _

_'Can't believe that she-devil lives across from us'_ _Ichigo thinks to himself as he continues walking angrily out of the apartment building, his feet dragging while he walked._

Ichigo sighs loudly, while rubbing his temple with both of his hands, those cold eyes are still so vivid in his mind he can almost see them even when his eyes are closed. "There's no other choice - Mai stay in here, I'll be right back," Ichigo states and Mai can tell her Father was serious about what he was doing. Mai isn't sure where he's going but nods to her Dad in agreement nonetheless, she knows he wouldn't leave her alone in the apartment without anyone to protect her.

Ichigo leaves the apartment and closes the door behind him quietly, before turning to the door directly across from there's reading the number '16' engraved onto the wooden door. Ichigo scratches his messy orange hair lightly and takes a step in front of the door, his fist hovering over the door hesitating to knock. _I can do this, just don't get her angry_ Ichigo reminds himself, in hopes of encouraging himself to knock on the said door he's been avoiding to stare at ever since he met the cold woman.

His fist finally knocks onto the wood loudly banging against it, and he hears some movement and shuffling behind the door in the apartment. He wonders if she would even open the door - since she doesn't seem like a people person. But before Ichigo could retreat and turn back from this horrible idea, the door unlocks, and the short thin woman opens her apartment's door.

When her violet eyes land on Ichigo's ambers, her expression seems slightly frazzled by his presence but the emotion vanishes as soon as it arrives, her face setting back into it's cold stone appearance, no emotion evident on her small face. "Whatever you're here for - I'm not interested," the woman says icily, and Ichigo holds back the urge to yell at her for thinking he's some sort of delinquent. He notices that she's dressed in a professional white button up blouse and black suit pants, Ichigo's eyes stray away from her clothing trying to regain his focus on her pale face. The one stray bang escaping from her short ebony hair lies between her eyes despite her moving it slightly away with her small hand, it goes back immediately to where it was before.

"Look lady, I need a favor," Ichigo states seriously, his amber irises not faltering from her serious stone gaze.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with trash like you! So why don't you find someone else to sell your drugs to, okay?!" she shouts, her eyebrow twitching, as she begins to slam the door closed. Ichigo grabs the doorknob quickly, panic etching into his voice, "NO! It's not what you think! I really need help with something!"

She glares at him, her arms burning in an attempt to close the door, but the strange orange haired man is far too strong for her to push the door closed completely. She didn't realize before but the man's arm's are well-toned and she can definitely tell he would win in an arm wrestle match against her any day. All that is heard is angry growling between the two, like two dogs fighting for one piece of food, and harsh breaths of air coming from their mouths. Rukia musters between breaths, "Why don't you go bother some other girl? If you seriously think you can get into my pants that easily than you're dead wrong!"

"That's it!" Ichigo screeches his face turning red in pure anger, and slight embarrassment. He didn't have time for this if he didn't get to work soon he couldn't look his daughter in the eyes anymore, Ichigo slams the door open Rukia narrowly misses being crushed by the door that swings violently and bangs into her apartment's wall loudly. The small woman's eyes narrow in what Ichigo would guess to be fear when he takes a step towards her pointing a finger accusingly at her face yelling, "why the _fuck_ are you complaining so much when clearly you've got enough money to live in a better place than this crappy old apartment?! So you're saying _I'm_ fucking trash - well guess what princess, then that means you are too, cause you're living under the same damn roof as me! So why don't you just shut up for once and let a guy finish his damn sentence!"

The woman pushes his accusing finger away fuming, her eyes sending daggers at him, "You know what?! It's fucking dickheads like _you_ that think you're so great and all high and mighty - and think I'm some snobby stuck up chick, well you can go beg some other bitch for money cause it sure as hell is not going to be me! So leave me the fuck alone you crazy asshole! I hope you die a slow and painful death, and when you do, you can go to hell cause only scumbags like you would end up there!" By the time she finishes yelling she's out of breath and Ichigo finds himself surprisingly hurt by her statement, his eyes turn to the ground and the silence between the two is so heavy the woman is sure she'd break under it.

"Daddy? What's wrong?" Mai asks unsurely, her voice softly calling to her Father, her pale green eyes sending him a worried glance.

The woman immediately regrets ever even yelling at the man, and her mouth slightly falls open in shock of the small young girl clutching onto the orange haired man's jeans the girl wearing a cute matching purple shirt and pants. The woman wishes she could disappear from the face of the earth. _Why the hell did I think that he was a bad guy - and I'm always saying to not judge by appearances, I'm a fucking idiot _she thinks quickly, looking guiltily at the little girl who is frightened to even look her in the eye.

"I'm - I'm um sorry to have bothered you - we're fine. Come on Mai let's go," Ichigo states softly, but his voice sounds shaky and the woman feels a pang in her heart for the strange Father in front of her. She had no idea that he wasn't a delinquent let alone was taking care of a sweet little kid. She grabs his t-shirt quickly, gripping onto the soft white fabric so tightly her knuckles turn white. She apologizes, "Wait! I'm sorry - I'll listen to what you need!"

Ichigo stops in his tracks, and turns back towards the woman. His eyes widen at the sight he sees in front of him. The woman is bowing down, her back bending over, her face hidden from his view and Ichigo can't believe that she's actually apologizing this much - he also said some things he probably shouldn't. When Ichigo doesn't answer, mainly due to being so struck by this strange woman in front of him she repeats, "I sincerely apologize - it's just that today, well - hasn't been the _greatest_ day for me," she lifts her head to look him in his soft brown eyes that contrast his mean looking appearance. She smiles slightly, and Ichigo swears he hasn't seen anything like it before. She continues, her voice sounding determined, "I'm sorry I took it out on you both." It's then that Ichigo realizes that Mai is still gripping onto him tightly, and he smiles slightly down at his daughter before coughing into his hand muttering sheepishly tot he woman, "Well, I haven't been having a good day either so - I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Surprisingly the woman laughs, "Please, I've seen far scarier things than you - though you do come pretty close to it." Ichigo rolls his eyes but smirks nonetheless, "Yeah, yeah - I was a mean jerk, I know, I'm sorry, okay?"

"Apology accepted," the woman nods, and then questions curiously, "So what exactly is this favor you need?" Her eyes glance down at Mai briefly before returning back to Ichigo's scowling face. "Well, it turns out I'm working tonight but Mai's babysitter doesn't babysit her on Friday's - I totally forgot cause I never work nights at the restaurant on Friday's so when my schedule got changed I didn't write it down - so now I came to ask you if maybe you could watch her over for tonight, actually until 12:00 am," Ichigo sadly states, seeming slightly deflated after retelling the entire story and his voice sounds guilty when clearly what happened was merely an accident he made.

"Relax, I can watch her - so don't worry about it," the woman decides quicklywith a small grin, not bothering to think twice about taking care of a kid and Ichigo gives out a long awaited sigh of relief. He abruptly grabs her hand and shakes it enthusiastically, almost ripping her arm off, "Thank you - I really mean it - if you didn't say yes I don't know what I'd do. You don't have to worry too much about her, she can just play with some of her toys and finish her dinner in my apartment and" -

The violet eyed neighbor interjects, "I'd rather watch over her in my apartment, we can watch some cartoons on T.V and she can eat her dinner here too." Ichigo gives the woman a questioning stare before sighing in defeat, "Okay, I'm fine with that, Mai how about you get your pajamas and I'll get your dinner to bring over to um"-

"Rukia, Rukia Kuchiki," the woman says her eyes looking down fondly at Mai, who smiles in return to the woman. Ichigo smiles also, but hides it with his hand repeating, "With Rukia, okay?" Mai nods silently before scrambling backwards into their apartment, nearly hitting her head against the door-frame on her way out. Ichigo can tell by the gleam in her eyes that she's excited to talk with another woman, since Mai rarely gets to be taken care of anyone other than Unohana and Hiyori - the latter isn't exactly the most motherly type of person. Ichigo finds Rukia's names almost completely natural to say, and when he glances back up to the woman she doesn't seem to be bothered by using her first name - to Ichigo's slight surprise.

"And what about you?" Rukia asks.

"What about me?" he gives her an irritated scowl, and this only causes the woman to roll her eyes.

"What's your name, smarty pants?" she grins teasingly at the taller man.

"Smartypants?" He gives her a confused look, but seems slightly amused by her childish insult.

"I just don't want Mai overhearing any more bad words that will traumatize her any further," Rukia explains, her face seeming to be serious about this matter. Despite how silly it sounds, Ichigo would definitely agree - he doesn't want Mai to grow up like other kids that swear like sailors all the time and disrespect almost everyone they meet; they were worse than kids spoiled with Ipads and cellphones.

"The name's Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you," Ichigo replies and extends his hand to hers once again, but this time waits for the woman's hand to clasp onto his. She gives him a genuine smile. It's the first time he's ever seen her look happy at all, and he finds that it suits her far better than when she's emotionless and closed off to him. _Does she push away everyone? Or just questionable guys like me?_

She clasps onto his hand tightly, returning the gesture, she immediately realizes how small her hand is in comparison to his - and how warm his hand felt on her icy fingers. She responds kindly, "The same goes for me. Next time, I'll try to not slam the door on your face again - despite how tempting it may be." Ichigo responds in the only way he's familiar with, a frown and a furrow of his eyebrows. Rukia laughs lightly at his response, her eyes closing tightly, and Ichigo is sure he won't be able to forget a name like hers.

Rukia. _It suits her perfectly._

**Writer's Note:**

**Dear god this turned out so long! And I didn't even end up finishing all I planned for this chapter! I decided to cut the chapter here since I thought if I continued it would just drone for far too long. how did you like their second meeting? Tell me what you think? And don't worry you guys will know some more in the next chapter - concerning Mai's mother that is. :3 thanks for reading!**


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